Mythunga camara Molnar and Thulborn, 2008
An incomplete pterosaur skull was found in the Albian marine Toolebuc Formation near Hughenden, Queensland, Australia. Although only the snout and part of the jaws are preserved, the specimen has two unique characters: posterior dentary teeth relatively large (approximately half the depth of the dentary) and posterior dentary and maxillary teeth relatively widely spaced (only 3 maxillary teeth between the last enlarged tooth and the nasopreorbital opening), and a unique combination of other characters. Thus, it is assigned to the new genus and species, Mythunga camara gen.nov., sp.nov., provisionally related to plesiomorphic pterodactyloids. The snout was apparently hollow with a boxlike internal structure, supporting the characterization of pterosaurs as ‘optical illusions’. This specimen represents at least the second pterosaur taxon from Queensland.
Key words: Cretaceous. Australia. Mythunga gen.nov. Queensland. Albian. Archaeopterodactyloidea. Toolebuc Formation.
Genus Mythunga gen.nov.
Type species – Mythunga camara sp. nov.
Etymology – From ‘Mythunga’, referring to a star and a hunter of the skies in an unspecified western Queensland aboriginal dialect (DUNCANKEMP, 1968).
Molnar, Ralph E.; and Thulborn, R.A. 2008. An incomplete pterosaur skull from the Cretaceous of north-central Queensland, Australia. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. 65 (4): 461–470.
