The neck holes showed that the specimen was different from all other azhdarchids, indicating it was a new flying giant. In particular, they examined the neck vertebra, which contains pneumatophores, or holes where air sacs once were that are now used to identify pterosaur species. When researchers took another look at the 1992 fossil, they were better able to compare it to Quetzalcoatlus. Over the last 15 years, other species of azhdarchids have been unearthed in Europe and North Africa, allowing researchers to better understand the characteristics and differences within the group. First dug up in Texas in 1972, Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying animal to ever live.Īzhdarchid pterosaurs, however, are one of the most difficult ancient creatures to classify since the remains of their delicate bones are rare and fragmentary.

Back then, however, paleontologists assumed it was a specimen of an azhdarchid pterosaur with a 32-foot wingspan called Quetzalcoatlus northropi. It was dug up in Dinosaur Provincial Park in 1992, and its skeletal remains were kept at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. The species, described in a new study, is actually not all that new. That's because one of the largest flying animals to ever exist called the province home. Some 77 million years ago, you would have been wise to keep a wary eye on the skies above what is now Alberta, Canada.

Dragon of the north canada