‘It wasn’t built to eat broccoli’: Australia’s largest ‘dragon’ unveiled

A pterosaur fossil found in the outback a decade ago, the largest known flying reptile on the continent, has finally been identified as a new species and is being compared to a dragon

An artist’s impression of the pterosaur Thapunngaka shawi, Australia’s largest known flying reptile. Picture: University of Queensland

With an estimated seven-metre wing span, 40 razor-sharp teeth, a circular crest below its jaw and no living relatives, a new species of pterosaur discovered in outback Queensland is being touted as the closest thing Australia ever had to a mythical dragon.

The creature, thought to have lived 105m years ago, is the largest known flying reptile on the Australian continent and has been described for the first time in an article published on Monday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.