A team of researchers recently unearthed the fossil of a 100 million year old pterosaur in Australia. This exceptional discovery represents the most complete pterosaur skeleton ever found in the region, and could challenge our knowledge of the diversity and distribution of these fascinating flying reptiles.
A fossil of rare completeness
The fossil of Haliskia peterseni, as this new species was named, was discovered in the state of Queensland, Australia. Dating from the Albian stage of the Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago, this specimen is distinguished by its remarkable state of preservation. In fact, no less than 22% of the skeleton could be reconstructed, making it a fossil more than twice as complete as the previous Australian record. Among the preserved elements are:
This exceptional completeness allowed researchers to classify Haliskia in the Anhangueria clade, and to formulate hypotheses about its lifestyle and diet.
A predator of the Cretaceous seas
At the time Haliskia lived, much of Queensland was underwater. The study of fossils suggests that this pterosaur hunted in these waters, looking for prey of its size. The shape of its teeth suggests that it fed mainly on soft-bodied invertebrates, probably cephalopods, as well as other slippery prey.
With an estimated wingspan of 4.6 meters, or just over 15 feet, Haliskia was a formidable predator. The morphology of its skull and jaw suggests that it possessed a powerful, muscular tongue, which helped it to immobilize its living, slippery prey against its prominent palatal ridge.
A new look at Australia's pterosaurs
Almost all of the pterosaur fossils discovered in Australia come from the Toolebuc geological formation, a long band of Cretaceous rocks that extends across Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia. It was Kevin Petersen, the curator of a local museum called Kronosaurus Korner, who unearthed the skeleton of Haliskia, named in her honor.
At the time this pterosaur lived, Australia was still part of the Gondwana supercontinent, which also included South America, Africa, Antarctica, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. However, this supercontinent was breaking apart, slowly breaking apart to form the continents we know today.
While pterosaur fossils have been found on all continents originating from Gondwana, there is a marked difference between the eastern (Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Indo-Pakistan and Madagascar) and western parts of the supercontinent. The study's authors point out that “pterosaur fossils are rare in eastern Gondwana, in contrast to their relative abundance and diversity in western Gondwana.”
This rarity has long complicated the study of the distribution of pterosaurs in these regions. But the discovery of Haliskia could change that. According to the researchers, “this new Australian pterosaur attests to the success of Anhangueria in the late Lower Cretaceous and suggests that Australian forms were more taxonomically and paleobiogeographically diverse than previously thought.”
In short, Haliskia peterseni is not only a fascinating new species: its discovery could well rewrite a part of the history of pterosaurs, these extraordinary flying reptiles which reigned in the skies of the Mesozoic. There is no doubt that this exceptional fossil will continue to reveal its secrets to paleontologists, for our greatest pleasure!
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