Cryodrakon boreas: new Canadian azhdarchid

Hone, Habib and Therrien 2019
bring us news of several bones from several individuals of various sizes of a new Canadian azhdarchid, Cryodrakon boreas (Fig. 1).

From the NatGeo webpage:
“For a long time [30+ years] paleontologists had instead assumed that the fossils belonged to a pterosaur called Quetzalcoatlus northropi [Figs. 1, 2], says study coauthor Dave Hone, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University of London.”

Here it took less than 2 minutes
to compare the humerus of Cryodrakon to that of Quetzalcoatlus (Fig. 1). Yes, they are different. Zhejiangopterus (Fig. 3) also has a straight humerus, like that of Cryodrakon.

From the Royal Tyrrell Museum webpage:
“The partial skeleton represents a young animal with a wingspan of about five metres, but one isolated giant neck bone from another specimen suggests that Cryodrakon could have reached a wingspan of around 10 metres when fully grown.”

Partial skeleton =
part of the wings, legs, neck and a rib. So, not a lot, but enough.

Looking forward to learning more
about Cryodrakon after reading the paper. All the above comes from online promotional materials.

References
Hone DWE, Habib MB and Therrien F 2019. Cryodrakon boreas, gen. et sp. nov., a Late Cretaceous Canadian azhdarchid pterosaur. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Article: e1649681 DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1649681

www.nationalgeographic.com
www.newsweek.com