A newly described pterosaur from western Queensland is rewriting what scientists know about Australia’s rare flying-reptile record, thanks to an unusually complete fossil pulled from rock laid down beside an ancient inland sea. The bones have been identified as Haliskia peterseni, a newly named anhanguerian pterosaur that lived about 100 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous.
Giant hunter over Queensland’s inland sea
In western Queensland, fossil bones uncovered in 2021 were found by Kevin Petersen, a curator at the Kronosaurus Korner museum, and later examined by a Curtin University-led research team. Researchers say the specimen represents the most complete pterosaur skeleton ever discovered in Australia.
The animal lived in a time when much of central western Queensland sat beneath a vast inland sea. That setting helps explain why researchers interpret Haliskia as a formidable flier adapted to a marine food web, moving above waters that supported prey such as fish and cephalopods.
100-million-year-old bones that reveal rare detail
Adele Pentland, a PhD student in Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, led the research team that identified the specimen and described its scale. Pentland said the pterosaur had a wingspan of about 4.6 meters, making it a large predator for its era.
The fossil stands out because so much of it survived. At 22 percent complete, it is more than twice as complete as the only other known partial pterosaur skeleton found in Australia, according to the report.
Jaws, teeth, and anatomy that pin down its family ties
The remains include complete lower jaws, the tip of the upper jaw, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from both wings, and part of a leg. Researchers also described very thin throat bones that indicate a muscular tongue, a feature linked to feeding on fish and cephalopods.
Distinct traits, including a crest on the upper jaw, curved teeth, and specific shoulder-bone structure, were used to place Haliskia within the Anhangueria group of pterosaurs. That group is known from fossils across multiple regions worldwide, including Brazil, England, Morocco, China, Spain, and the United States.
