By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
Long ago, a formidable pterosaur soared over the shallow waters of the Eromanga Sea, which once covered the now arid inland regions of Australia. This flying reptile featured a bony crest on both its upper and lower jaws and was equipped with spike shaped teeth perfect for catching fish and other marine prey.
Scientists have announced the discovery of this creature's fossils in Queensland, Australia. Known as Haliskia peterseni, these remains are the most complete pterosaur fossils ever found in Australia. Haliskia lived about 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, alongside dinosaurs and various marine reptiles. This pterosaur had a wingspan of 15 feet (4.6 meters), making it slightly larger and older by approximately 5 million years than Ferrodraco, another Australian pterosaur discovered in 2019.
Haliskia, meaning “sea phantom,” was likely an intimidating sight as it flew above the waves. “The Eromanga Sea was a massive inland sea covering large parts of Australia when this pterosaur was alive, but both have vanished. The ghost of both of these is evident from the fossils found in the area,” said Adele Pentland, a doctoral student in paleontology at Curtin University and lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Pterosaur skeletons are typically fragile and do not fossilize well. However, 22% of Haliskia's skeleton was found, including complete lower jaws, the tip of the upper jaw, throat bones, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, wing bones, and part of a leg.
“We inferred the presence of a muscular tongue based on the relative length of the throat bones compared to the lower jaw,” Pentland explained. “In many other pterosaurs, the throat bones are 30% or 60% the length of the lower jaw, whereas in Haliskia, they are 70%. This could have given Haliskia an advantage in hunting fish and squid like cephalopods by trapping live prey in its jaws.”
Pentland expressed astonishment at the preservation of Haliskia's delicate throat bones, which are “as thin as a piece of spaghetti,” with one bone complete from end to end. Haliskia’s remains are more complete than those of Ferrodraco. Both belong to a group of pterosaurs called anhanguerians, with remains found in China, the United States, Brazil, England, Spain, and Morocco. The other three named Australian pterosaurs are known only from partial jaw bones, according to Pentland.
After its death, Haliskia’s body was buried under sediment at the bottom of the Eromanga Sea, leading to its fossilization. The creature's name also honors Kevin Petersen, an avocado farmer turned Kronosaurus Korner museum curator, who discovered its remains in 2021.
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, appearing about 230 million years ago. Birds followed around 150 million years ago, and bats around 50 million years ago. Pterosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago in the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, except for their avian descendants.
“Pterosaurs occupied various ecological niches, with small pterosaurs feeding on insects, some feeding on fish, and others scavenging. The smallest pterosaurs had wingspans of about 25 cm (10 inches), while the largest rivaled small fighter jets and were the largest animals ever to fly,” Pentland noted.
The discovery of Haliskia enhances understanding of life in Australia during the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs dominated the land. “This discovery is significant as it was long presumed that Australia had very few fossils from the age of dinosaurs,” Pentland said.