''Thapunngaka'' ( meaning "Spear Mouth" in

Wanamara The Wanamara (Wunumara) were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country The Wanamara's tribal lands extended over, in Norman Tindale's calculations, some from the headwaters of the Flinders River, eastwards as far as Ric ...

) is a genus of

anhanguerid Anhangueridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were among the last pterosaurs to possess teeth. A recent study discussing the group considered the Anhangueridae to be typified by a premaxillary crest and a later ...

pterosaur recovered from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

marine

Toolebuc Formation The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation that extends from Queensland across South Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia, whose strata date back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaurs,Weishampel ''et al.'', 2004 ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. ''Thapunngaka'' represents the largest pterosaur known from the Australian continent. The genus currently contains a single species, ''Thapunngaka shawi''.

Discovery and naming

''Thapunngaka'' was initially discovered in June 2011 within the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

, Upper

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

Country, North West

by fossicker Mr. Len Shaw. It would later be excavated from the surrounding rock by the Kronosaurus Korner Museum. The genus would later be described in 2021 on the basis of the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

''KKF 494'', representing only a partial

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

lacking

dentition Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolo ...

. Additionally, after the initial description the Kronosaurus Korner museum would later put the holotype of display for the general public. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''Thapunngaka shawi'' was described by Timothy Richards, Paul Stumkat and Steven Salisbury from the Kronosaurus Korner museum. The genus name ''Thapunngaka'', incorporates words from the

, one of the Mayi languages spoken by the people of the Wanamara Nation, on whose Country the holotype was discovered. The generic name incorporates the words 'thapun' and 'ngaka' , the Wanamara words for ‘spear’ and ‘mouth’, translating to "Spear Mouth" in the Wanamara language. The specific name ''shawi'' honors the discoverer of the holotype, Mr. Len Shaw. Therefore the full name translates to ‘Shaw’s spear mouth’.

Description

The wingspan of ''Thapunngaka'' was estimated by a comparison with related species. It would be between , based on an extrapolation from ''

Anhanguera piscator ''Anhanguera'' () is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous (Albian age, 125 to 112 million years ago) Romualdo Formation of Brazil and the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian age, 98 to 92.5 million years ago) Kem Kem Grou ...

'' and ''

Tropeognathus mesembrinus ''Tropeognathus'' (meaning "keel jaw") is a genus of large pterosaurs from the late Early Cretaceous of South America. This genus is considered to be a member of the family Anhangueridae, however, several studies have also recovered it within ...

'' respectively. The lower jaws more strongly resembled those of ''A. piscator'', from which it was concluded that a span of was probable.

Classification

In its description, ''Thapunngaka'' was assigned within the subfamily Tropeognathinae of the family

Anhangueridae Anhangueridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were among the last pterosaurs to possess teeth. A recent study discussing the group considered the Anhangueridae to be typified by a premaxillary crest and a later ...

, sister taxon to both ''

Ferrodraco ''Ferrodraco'' ("Iron Dragon" after the ironstone the fossil was found in) is an extinct genus of anhanguerid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia, containing the single species ''F. lentoni''. The ...

'' and ''

Mythunga ''Mythunga'' is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Australia. Fossil remains of ''Mythunga'' dated back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and the animal itself was found to be a close relative of anoth ...

''. The cladogram below shows a topology published by Richards and colleagues in 2021, which is based on a study by Borja Holgado and Rodrigo Pêgas in 2020:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108032629 Pterosaurs of Australia Fossil taxa described in 2021