Argentine scientists have discovered a new species of giant flying reptile called the “Dragon of Death”, which lived 86 million years ago with dinosaurs, in a find that gives a new idea of a predator whose body is as long as a yellow school bus.
The new specimen, an ancient flying reptile, or pterosaur, is about 30 feet (9 meters) long, and researchers say it preceded birds as one of the first creatures on Earth to use their wings to hunt their prey from prehistoric skies. A team of paleontologists has discovered the fossils of the newly invented Thanatosdrakon amaru in the Andes Mountains in the western province of Mendoza in Argentina. They found that the rocks that preserve the remains of the reptile date back 86 million years from the Cretaceous period.
The estimated date means that these terrifying flying reptiles lived at least about 20 million years before an asteroid impact on today’s Mexican Yucatan Peninsula destroyed about three-quarters of the planet’s life about 66 million years ago. Project leader Leonardo Ortiz said in an interview over the weekend that the hitherto unseen characteristics of the fossil required a new genus and species name, the latter combining ancient Greek words for death (thanatos) and dragon (dragon).
“It seemed appropriate to call him that,” Ortiz said. “This is the dragon of death.” The reptile would probably be a frightening sight. Researchers who published their study last April in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research said that the huge bones of fossils classify the new species as the largest pterosaur ever found in South America and one of the largest found anywhere.
“We don’t have current records for a close relative who even has a body modification similar to these animals,” Ortiz said.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is automatically generated by a syndicated channel.)
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