Ferrodraco lentoni: A new species of Anhanguerian Pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia.

The Pterosaurs were an extinct group of flying Archosaurs that existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period (210 to 65.5 million years ago). They are thought to have been warm blooded, as  many specimens have been found that appear to have had fury skins. Their wings were flaps of skin membrane, similar to that of Bats, supported by elongated fourth fingers and attached to the flanks of the body and legs. Unlike Birds they appear to have been capable of flying before reaching their full adult size, and appear to have taken several years to reach maturity. The largest Pterosaurs achieved wingspans in excess of 7 m, roughly twice that of the largest extant Birds. Despite their long history and high diversity, the fossil record of Pterosaurs is somewhat limited, probably due to their lightweight, fragile skeletons, with most known Pterosaur fossils coming from a relatively small number of localities. Less than twenty Pterosaur fossils are known from Australia, and all of these fragmentary specimens from the Cretaceous.

In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on 3 October 2019, Adele Pentland and Stephen Poropat of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology at Swinburne University of Technology, and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum, and Travis Tischler, Trish Sloan, Robert Elliott, Harry Elliott, Judy Elliott, and David Elliott, also of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum,describe a new species of Ornithocheirid Pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia.

The Winton Formation is an iron rich sandstone laid down in a shallow inland sea (the Etomanga Sea) and associated river systems that covered parts of Queensland and central Australia during the early Late Cretaceous (98-95 million years ago). which extends from Hungerford on the New South Wakes border northwest to the area around Kynuna, a distance of over 1000 kilometres. This formation is famous for its Dinosaurs, but also produces Crocodylians, Turtles, Fish and a wide range of Invertebrates. It is also noted for the production of opals, which are typically found in cracks in ironstone concretions (themselves formed by precipitation from water that has accumulated iron as it peculated through the feruginous sandstone), and is commonly called 'boulder opal'.

The species is named Ferrodraco lentoni, where 'Ferrodraco' means 'Iron Dragon', as the specimen from which the species is described is preserved in ironstone, and 'lentoni' honours former Winton Shire mayor Graham Thomas ‘Butch’ Lenton, in recognition of his years of service to the Winton community and support to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum. The species is described from a single, fragmentary, specimen excavated at Belmont Station in Winton Shire, Queensland.

Location of the Ferrodraco lentoni type locality. (a) Map of Australia showing the location of Queensland. (b) Map of Queensland showing the distribution of Winton Formation outcrop. (c) Map of the Winton area showing Winton Formation outcrop, the location of Belmont Station, and museums in the region. Stephen Poropat in Pentland et al. (2019).

The specimen from which the species is described comprises the anterior portion of skull comprising a partial premaxillae, the maxillae and dentaries (including premaxillary and mandibular crests and the mandibular symphysis), a partial left frontal, the left mandibular articular region comprising the surangular, angular and articular, as well as five partial cervical vertebrae, a partial right scapulocoracoid, a partial left ulna, a partial left radius, the left proximal and distal carpals, the left metacarpal IV, an the proximal end of right metacarpal IV, fragmentary left non-wing manual phalanges, partial left first wing phalanx (IV-1), and associated fragments. Several elements, including the skull and mandible and many of the appendicular elements were clearly articulated post-fossilisation; however, erosion and soil rotation led to fragmentation of the specimen prior to its excavation.

Ferrodraco lentoni, holotype skull and mandible AODF 876. (A) dorsal view; (B) anterior view; (C) left lateral view; (D) ventral view; (E) right lateral view; (F) schematic of left lateral view; and (G) schematic of right lateral view. Abbreviations: d, dentary; dcr, (preserved base of) dentary crest; ll#, lower left (alveolus number); lr#, lower right (alveolus number); man, mandibular ramus; ms, mandibular symphysis; pmcr, premaxillary crest; pmx-mx, premaxilla–maxilla; ul#, upper left (alveolus number); ur#, upper right (alveolus number). Scale bar is 50 mm. Pentland et al. (2019).

Ferrodraco lentoni is diagnosed to be a Anhanguerian Pterodactyloid based upon the following criteria, (1) first tooth pair of the premaxilla and mandible smaller than other anterior teeth; (2) fourth up to seventh teeth smaller than third and eighth. There have been two previously described Pterosaurs from the Cretaceous of Queensland, Mythunga camara and Aussiedraco molnari, both of which are from slightly older strata than Ferrodraco lentoni.

There is little overlap between the material used to describe Ferrodraco lentoni and that used to describe Mythunga camara, but the latter has quite different dentition, making it unlikely the two specimens represent the same speces.

The situation with Aussiedraco molnari is slightly more complex; the most obvious difference between Ferrodraco lentoni  and Aussiedraco molnari is the presence of a mandibular crest in Ferrodraco lentoni  but not Aussiedraco molnari. However this is known to be a sexually dimorphic trait in some Pterosaurs (i.e. one sex had mandibular crests and the other didn't in the same species), making this of little use as a diagnostic trait. However there are other differences between the specimens; the mandible of Ferrodraco lentoni expands towards the tip more than that of Aussiedraco molnari, and is laterally convex, whereas that of Aussiedraco molnari is straight. In Aussiedraco molnari, the anterior portion of the mandibular groove is more prominent than that of Ferrodraco lentoni, and appears most pronounced from the posterior margin of the third alveolus until the posterior margin of the fourth alveolus in the former taxon. Aussiedraco molnari also differs from Ferrodraco lentoni in that its alveolar borders are not raised. Perhaps most tellingly, two sulci (grooves) were observed on the rostral tip of the mandible of Aussiedraco molnari that were notpresent in Ferrodraco lentoni, or any other Pterosaurs.

Ferrodraco lentoni holotype rostral sections AODF 876. Cross-section (A) internal structure of premaxillary crest; (B) weak mandibular groove (grey arrow) and internal structure indicates the mandible is incomplete ventrally; (C)–(I) demonstrate variation in the depth of the palatal ridge and corresponding mandibular groove, with ironstone matrix represented by shaded region; (H) demonstrates replacement tooth is located lingual to the functional tooth; (J) section through (H) demonstrating the replacement tooth is distal to the functional tooth. The location of the functional and replacement teeth was based on their pulp cavities (black). Co-ossified dentaries in (K) anterior and (L) dorsal (occlusal) views. (M) Co-ossified premaxillae and maxillae in ventral (occlusal) view. (N) Schematic of premaxillae and maxillae in ventral (occlusal) view showing the subtle longitudinal palatal ridge. Abbreviations: ft, functional tooth; ll#, lower left; prid, palatal ridge; rt, replacement tooth; ul#, upper left; ur#, upper right. Scale bars are 20 mm for all figures. Pentland et al. (2019).

A phylogenetic analysis was carried out including Ferrodraco lentoni and Mythunga camara, but not Aussiedraco molnari. This recovered Ferrodraco lentoni and Mythunga camara as sister taxa, with their closest (included) relatives being Ornithocheirus simus and Coloborhynchus clavirostris, both of which are from England. This is at first surprising, as England and Queensland were not much closer in the Cretaceous than they are today, but Anhanguerian Pterodactyloid are thought to have been large animals capable of making long-distance, ocean-crossing flights (the wingspan of Ferrodraco lentoni is estimated to have been about 4 m, compared to about 3.1 in the modern Wandering Albatros, Diomedea exulans).

Ferrodraco lentoni holotype specimen AODF 876. All preserved elements were photographed and scaled to the same size, then articulated where possible. These were then used as the basis for the scaling of the skeletal reconstruction, the missing parts of which were based on the skeletal reconstruction of Tropeognathus mesembrinus. Scale bar is 50 mm. Pentland et al. (2019).

It has been suggested that Anhanguerians went extinct at the end of the Cenomanian (93.8 million years ago), based on their apparent absence from post-Cenomanian strata. Their apparent absence follows a period of major environmental disturbance characterised by an increase in atmospheric and oceanic surface temperature, an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, a global oceanic anoxic event, and marine transgression.At present, the majority of Anhanguerians are known from restricted lagoon environments, with stable isotopic analysis of isolated teeth derived from the Araripe Basin  of northeastern Brazil indicating a piscivorous diet comprising both freshwater and marine Fish. Given that marine vertebrates and invertebrates were most severely impacted during the Cenomanian–Turonian event, Pentland et al. suggest that Anhanguerians were also impacted by a disruption in trophic interactions. However, if the teeth sampled from the Araripe Basin are not diagenetically altered and are indicative of the feeding behaviours of this clade more broadly, it is possible that anhanguerians in terrestrial settings might have persisted beyond the Cenomanian.

The presence of an anhanguerian in the Winton Formation is not surprising, given that several related Pterosaurs have been reported from the underlying upper Albian Toolebuc and Mackunda formations. However, recent analyses of detrital zircons obtained from localities in the Winton area suggest that deposition of the northern part of the Winton Formation where Ferrodraco lentoni was found might have taken place as late as the early Turonian (i.e. after 93.8 million years ago). Given that Ferrodraco derives from a locality northeast of Winton, it potentially represents a late-surviving member of the Ornithocheiridae specifically, and of Anhangueria more broadly.

Life restoration of Ferrodraco lentoni as an Ornithocheirid Pterosaur. Travis Tischler in Pentland et al. (2019).

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Savannasaurus elliottorum & Diamantinasaurus matildae: Sauropod Dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Queensland.

The breakup of the Gondwanan Supercontintent into its constituent parts (South America, Antarctica, Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, New Zealand and some smaller landmasses) during the Cretaceous played an important role in the distribution of terrestrial animals and plants in the Southern Hemisphere that can still be seen today. How this would have affected the distribution of large animals such as Dinosaurs is particularly interesting, but is hard to assess as of these continents only South America has a good terrestrial fossil record extending all the way through the Cretaceous. Northern and Southeast Africa, and eastern Australia have strata which produce numerous terrestrial fossils including Dinosaurs, but almost no such fossils are known from the Late Cretaceous here, while the reverse is true in India, Madagascar and Antarctica, with numerous Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs but very few Middle Cretaceous specimens.

In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on 20 October 2016, Stephen Poropat of the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of NaturalHistory, Philip Mannion of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, Paul Upchurch of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London, ScottHocknull of Geosciences at the Queensland Museum, Benjamin Kear, also of the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University and of the Museum of Evolution, also at Uppsala University, Martin Kundrát of the Department of Ecology at Comenius University and the Center for Interdisciplinary Biosciences at the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, and Travis Tischler, Trish Sloan, George Sinapius, Judy Elliott and David Elliott, all of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, describe two new Sauropod Dinosaur specimens from the early Late Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland.

The Winton Formation is an iron rich sandstone laid down in a shallow inland sea (the Etomanga Sea) and associated river systems that covered parts of Queensland and central Australia during the early Late Cretaceous (98-95 million years ago). which extends from Hungerford on the New South Wakes border northwest to the area around Kynuna, a distance of over 1000 kilometres. This formation is famous for its Dinosaurs, but also produces Crocodylians, Turtles, Fish and a wide range of Invertebrates. It is also noted for the production of opals, which are typically found in cracks in ironstone concretions (themselves formed by precipitation from water that has accumulated iron as it peculated through the feruginous sandstone), and is commonly called 'boulder opal'.

 Map of Queensland, northeast Australia, showing the distribution of Cretaceous outcrop. Porapat et al. (2016).

The first specimen described is assigned to a new species and genus and named Savannasaurus elliottorum, where 'Savannasaurus' refers to the Savanah Grasslands where the specimen was found and 'elliottorum' honours the Elliott family for their contributions to Australian palaeontology. The specimen comprises a series of vertebrae and ribs plus a fragmentary scapula, a left coracoid, the left and right sternal plates, incomplete left and right humeri, a shattered ulna, the left radius a number of metacarpals and phalanges, fragments of the left and right ilias, the left and right pubes and ischia, fused together, the left astragalus the right third metatarsal and some other fragmentary remains.

Savannasaurus elliottorum. (a–e) Dorsal vertebrae (left lateral view). (f) Sacrum (ventral view). (g,h) Caudal vertebrae (left lateral view). (i) Left coracoid (lateral view). (j) Right sternal plate (ventral view). (k) Left radius (posterior view). (l) Right metacarpal III (anterior view). (m) Left astragalus (anterior view). (n) Co-ossified right and left pubes (anterior view). A number of ribs were preserved but have been omitted for clarity. Scale bar is 500 mm. Porapat et al. (2016).

The second of specimen is referred to the species Diamantinasaurus matildae, which has previously been described from the Winton Formation. This specimen comprises a left squamosal, a nearly complete braincase, a right surangular, several skull fragments, the atlas-axis, five post-axial cervical vertebrae, three dorsal vertebrae, a partial sacrum, some dorsal ribs, a right scapula, both iliac preacetabular processes, a paired pubes and ischia and some other fragmentary material. The preservation of skull material in this specimen is particularly noteworthy, as this is the first such material known not only for this species but for any Australian Sauropod.

 Diamantinasaurus matildae, new specimen. (a,b) Braincase (left lateral and caudal views). (c,d) endocranium (left lateral oblique and ventral views). (e) Axis (left lateral view). (f) Cervical vertebra III (left lateral view). Abbreviations: bt, basal tuber; cca, internal carotid artery; coch, cochlea; crb, cerebral hemisphere; crbl, cerebellum; dds, dorsal dural sinus; fm, foramen magnum; hfp, hypophyseal fossa placement; ioa, internal ophthalmic artery; jug, jugular vein; lbr, endosseous labyrinth; mf, metotic foramen; midb, midbrain; mo, medulla oblongata; nc, nuchal crest; occ, occipital condyle; ofb, olfactory bulb; oft, olfactory tract; pp, paroccipital process; II, optic tract; III, oculomotor nerve; IV, trochlear nerve; V, trigeminal nerve; V1, ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve; V2+3, maxillo-mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve; VI, abducens nerve; VII, facial nerve; IX, glossopharyngeal nerve; X, vagus nerve; XI, accessory nerve; XII, hypoglossal nerve? structure of unknown or disputable identity/placement. Scale bar is 100 mm. Porapat et al. (2016).

Both of these specimens are adjudged to be Titanosaurs, a group of (often extremely large) Sauropod Dinosaurs that originated in South America and spread across much of the globe during the Cretaceous, which has interesting biogeographical implications for the Australian fauna of the Cretaceous. The extremely large size of Titanosaurs means that they are highly unlikely to have been dispersed across oceans by rafting or any similar mechanism, suggesting that they must have walked from South America to Australia overland. This was certainly possible during the Cretaceous, as the continents of Gondwana were still largely attached at the beginning of this period, and even at the end Australia was still attached to South America via a land-bridge across Antarctica. Titanosaurs, and Sauropods in general, appear to have favoured warmer climates, being absent from latitudes higher than 66° in either hemisphere, and much less diverse in higher latitudes than they were within the tropics. Antarctica was attached to both South America and Australia throughout the Cretaceous, but is known to have had a much cooler climate, with a distinct flora and fauna of its own that were apparently adapted to much cooler conditions during the Middle Cretaceous. This would appear to make a dispersal from South America across Africa, Madagascar and India during the Early Cretaceous (reaching Australia before 119 million years ago, when the connection between Indo-Madagascar and Australia was finally broken) the most likely method for these animals to reach Australia.

Palaeogeographic map of the mid-Cretaceous world. Showing the possible high latitude dispersal routes that might have been utilised by titanosaurs and other sauropods during the late Albian–Turonian. Porapat et al. (2016).

However, Australia has a reasonably good fossil record for part of the Middle Cretaceous (in this case roughly the period from 115-105 million years ago, which has produced a wide variety of Dinosaur specimens, but not yet to date any Sauropods. Neither have Titanosaurs thought to be closely related to the Australian species been recovered from the Middle Cretaceous deposits of Africa or the Late Cretaceous deposits of India or Madagascar, something which might be expected if the ancestors of these Sauropods had walked across Africa, India and Madagascar into Australia.

As an alternative route Porapat et al. suggest that the arrival of Titanosaurs in Australia may have occurred via Antarctica in the much warmer climate of the Late Cretaceous, after about 105 million years ago, when rapidly rising global temperatures brought a much warmer climate to Antarctica, possibly allowing rapid dispersal of warmth-loving Titanosaurs across the Antarctic land bridge.

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Queensland miner killed in trench collapse.

A sixty-two-year-old miner has been found dead following a the collapse of an exploration trench at a mine in Opalton, Queensland, on Saturday 22 October 2016. Sid Cuddy was reported missing after a friend visited the site where he was operating at about 4.00 pm local time. The location is described as being extremely remote, being about 150 km southwest of Winton and about 300 km west of Longreach, and it took police and firefighters six hours to reach the site, and a further three hours to clear the trench and find Mr Cuddy's body.

Sid Cuddy (62), who died in a collapse at an exploration trench at an opal mine in Opalton, Queensland, on 22 October 2016. The Courier Mail.

Opal is an amorphous form of silica containing as much as 21% water, It is made up of tiny spheroids of crystalline silica some 150 to 300 nm in diameter, with random alignments to one another. Light passing through these crystaloids is refracted as by a prism, leading to the 'opalescent' sheen which gives the mineral its value. Opal is formed by water percolating through silica rocks, where it desolves some of the mineral forming a silica-rich solution. This can accumulate in any cracks or gaps in the rock, where if it reaches a high enough concentration it can precipitate out as opal.

Opal beds in Queensland are found largely in exposures of the Cretaceous Winton Formation, an iron rich sandstone laid down in a shallow inland sea (the Etomanga Sea) that covered parts of Queensland and central Australia during the Early Cretaceous. which extends from Hungerford on the New South Wakes border northwest to the area around Kynuna, a distance of over 1000 kilometres. The opal here is typically found in cracks in ironstone concretions (themselves formed by precipitation from water that has accumulated iron as it peculated through the feruginous sandstone), and is commonly called 'boulder opal'.

These fields have been worked since the 1870s, with the bulk of the mining done by small, artisanal miners who sink shallow trenches into the sandstone looking for opal-bearing boulders. The Opalton deposits were among the first opal fields discovered in Australia, and as well as still supporting a mining industry, are now a thriving tourist attraction.

Mr Cuddy is described as having been a highly experienced miner, always willing to help other less experienced prospectors. The cause of the collapse that killed him is as yet unknown.

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Amber from the Late Cretaceous Otway Basin of Australia.                                     Amber deposits are quite rare in Australia; Miocene-Pliocene ambers...

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An Ichthyodectiform Fish from the Early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia.

Ichthyodectiforms were large, predatory Fish from the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, distantly related to modern Mooneyes, Elephantfish, Featherbacks, Arowanas and Butterflyfish. The typically reached between one and five meters in length, though some species exceeded six meters. Unlike their modern relatives, which are found in freshwater in Africa, Australia, South America and parts of Asia, the Ichthyodectiforms were predominantly marine, though several of their modern relatives still grow very large, including the Arapaima (Arapaima gigas), a South American freshwater species which sometimes grows over 2.5 m in length.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica available online since 17 June 2013, Rodney Berrell or the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, Jesús Alvarado-Ortega of the Departamento de Paleontología at the Instituto de Geología at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Yoshitaka Yabumoto of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History and Steven Salisbury, also of the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, describe a new species of Ichthyodectiform Fish from the Early Cretaceous of Queensland.

The new species is placed in the genus Cladocyclus, which has previously been described from the Cretaceous of Brazil and Morocco, and given the specific name Cladocyclus geddesi, in honour of Kerry Geddes, who discovered the fossil specimen from which the species is described during a University of Queensland expedition to Isisford, central-western Queensland, in 2005. It was preserved in a sandstone nodule derived from the Winton Formation, which outcrops across a large area of western Queensland, northeastern South Australia and north-western New South Wales, and which is interpreted as having been laid down in a freshwater fluvial-lacustrine environment deposited on a broad coastal plain as the epicontinental Eromanga Sea withdrew, between 103 and 93.9 million years ago.

Cladocyclus geddesi in lateral view. Photograph (A) and interpretive drawing (B). Abbreviations: ang, angular; bsc, basal sclerotic bone; cl, cleithrum; cor, coracoid; den, dentary; epi, epioccipital bone; epn, epineural; gr, gill rakers; hym, hyomandibular; io1- 4, infraorbital bones (numbered anterior to posterior); iop, interopercle; mpa, mesoparietal (= fused parietals); mx, maxilla; pcl, postcleithrum; pmx, premaxilla; pop, preopercle; rode, rostrodermethmoid bone; sma, supramaxilla anterior; smp, supramaxilla posterior; soc, supraoccipital; sop, subopercle; stt, supratemporal. Berrell et al. (2013).

The species is described from the skull, pectoral girdle and first 19 vertebrae of a Fish preserved as part and counterpart on a split sandstone nodule. The specimen being approximately 270 mm in length, and the living fish is estimated to have been 600-1050 mm long.

See also The bite of the Megapiranha, A new species of Lungfish from the Late Devonian of northwest Australia, New species of Devonian Tetrapod from the northeast of Greenland, A Flying Fish from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, China and New species of Ginglymodian Fish from the Late Jurassic of northeast Thailand.

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