Fossils Of Giant Pterosaur Unearthed In Romania

Researchers discovered fossils of the giant pterosaur in Transylvania, Romania. They called this creature as Hatzegopteryx, which is a giant, muscle-bound flying reptile that could eat prey as big as a small horse.

The discovery was described in the journal Peer. It was led by Mart Witton, a researcher at Portsmouth University and Darren Naish at the University of Southampton.

The fossils found dated about 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. The team said that they might be once part of Hateg island in the Tethys Sea. The finding indicates that Hatzegopteryx could be the chief predator on the island because of its size. Another thing was that the researchers found fossils of dwarf dinosaurs, too. These had the long-necked horse yet no big teeth. The Hatzegopteryx could just grab these small dinosaurs or horse with their bigger and stronger body, according to Phys.org.

The team found fossils of the creature that indicates it would likely have strong wind and back. Its muscles could weigh about as much as a quarter-ton. The fossils might belong to azhdarchid pterosaurs, which had a wingspan of about 10 meters and weighs about 220 kg mass. The creatures were long-necked, long-jawed predators with a wing planform suited for soaring with limb adaptations.

The researchers said that they found giant azhdarchid neck vertebra referred to as Hatzegopteryx from the Maastrichtian Sebes Formation of the Transylvanian Basin, Romania. They described the vertebra as a cervical VII, which is 240 mm long as preserved and almost as wide. They suggest that this pterosaur played a significant role as predator among the paleofauna of ancient Hateg.

Pterosaurs referred to as "winged lizard" are flying reptiles that belong to the family of extinct order Pterosauria. They had been known to have evolved powered flight and their wings were shaped by a membrane of skin, muscle and other tissues that stretched from the ankles to a lengthened fourth finger. The early pterosaurs had long, fully toothed jaws and long tails. On the other hand, the later forms had a reduced tail and lacked teeth.