New Species of ‘Iron Dragon’ Pterosaur Found in Australia

Models of giant predatory reptiles know as pterosaurs hang outside the Royal Festival Hall in London, England, on June 21, 2010. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Researchers have announced that prehistoric bones found in Australia belong to a new species of pterosaur so fearsome it has been dubbed the “iron dragon.”

A cattle grazier found some fossilized remains in the outback of Queensland in 2017, sparking a broader excavation leading to the Oct. 3 announcement in Scientific Reports that the bones belong to a previously unknown species of pterosaur—a type of flying reptile.