ARTICLES
A 4-metre flying reptile unearthed in Queensland (continued)
This particular individual represents a fully grown adult, based
on the fusion seen in several bones. Judging by its wing bones
and the dimensions of similar pterosaurs, Ferrodraco would have
had a wingspan of about 4 metres, with a skull probably reaching
60cm in length. It is likely that it ate mainly fish.
Unlike many other fossils, most of the bones were covered by a
thin layer of rock. This meant that Ferrodraco had an unusually
quick journey (by palaeontological standards) from its discovery
to scientific publication.
Preparation of the specimen was finished within a week by
preparator Ali Calvey. Even before the bones had been fully
prepared, our team was able to make detailed observations and
determine which family of pterosaurs this specimen belonged to.
The genus name ‘Ferrodraco’ refers to the fact that the remains
of this winged reptile were found preserved in ironstone, and
the species name ‘lentoni’ honours former Winton Shire mayor
Graham “Butch” Lenton, in recognition of his service to the
community. The Winton area has within recent decades produced
several well-preserved dinosaur fossils.
Surprisingly, Ferrodraco shows closer ties with similarly-aged
pterosaurs from England than it does to those from South America.
This suggests that these pterosaurs, that are collectively known
as ornithocheirids, could easily fly across oceans and disperse
between continents.
Ferrodraco lived 96 million years ago, around lake and river
systems surrounded by conifer forests. Based on various other
fossil evidence, this pterosaur shared its environment with
several dinosaurs, including the sauropods Diamantinasaurus
and Savannasaurus, theropods such as Australovenator, along
with ornithopods and ankylosaurs. Competing with Ferrodraco
for fish in the freshwater river systems were crocodylomorphs
(such as Isisfordia) and plesiosaurs.
This idea has been put forward by other palaeontologists, but
the dearth of material from Australia had made it difficult to verify
until now.
Ferrodraco has changed the game in that regard, demonstrating
that it was living at least as recently as its Northern Hemisphere
ornithocheirid cousins. In fact, it might represent one of the
geologically youngest ornithocheirids ever found. Although
more work needs to be done to demonstrate this, Ferrodraco
is nevertheless one of the most important pterosaur specimens
ever found in Australia.
Game-changer
The Ferrodraco specimen was discovered by Winton grazier Bob
Elliott in April 2017, whilst he was spraying weedkiller along the
banks of a creek on Belmont Station. It’s not the first major fossil
find on Belmont Station – the unique sauropod dinosaur named
‘Savannasaurus elliottorum’ was discovered just 10km from the
pterosaur site.
The Science Teachers’ Association of NSW and “Science
Education News” again sincerely thank ‘The Conversation’ for
its generous policy of encouraging republication of its articles,
all having been written by academics or PhD students who are
experts in their fields. SEN is also very grateful to the author of
this article, Ms Adele Pentland, both for her endorsement of this
policy, and for this stimulating article. – Ed.
Unlike other fossil sites in the Winton area, this pterosaur’s remains
were found in the banks of a creek and had likely been exposed
to the elements for several years. One bone from the wing had
even been kicked away from the main site by livestock travelling
through the creek. Had the bones not been infiltrated by iron-rich
fluids, which ultimately became ironstone, these precious fossils
would surely have been lost to erosion many years ago.
62
SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 68 NO 4