新發(fā)現(xiàn)的翼龍，是有史以來(lái)比較大的飛行爬行動(dòng)物之一

新發(fā)現(xiàn)的翼龍，是有史以來(lái)最大的飛行爬行動(dòng)物之一

During the age of the dinosaurs, the skies of North America were home to some of the largest flying animals the world has ever seen. New research now suggests there were at least two types of giant winged reptile living on the continent at the same time.

在恐龍時(shí)代，北美的天空是一些世界上見(jiàn)過(guò)的最大的飛行動(dòng)物的家園?，F(xiàn)在，新的研究表明，至少有兩種大型翼爬行動(dòng)物同時(shí)生活在這塊大陸上。

Re-analysing a jumble of pterosaur fossils found in Alberta, Canada, palaeontologists have identified a previously unknown species within the azhdarchid (aka giant pterosaur) group.

古生物學(xué)家重新分析了在加拿大阿爾伯塔省發(fā)現(xiàn)的一堆翼龍化石，在阿茲達(dá)奇德(又名巨型翼龍)群中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)以前不為人知的物種。

It's been named Cryodrakon boreas - "cold dragon of the north winds" - and in its day, roughly 77 million years ago, this reptile's beating wings would have cast an ominous shadow, with a wingspan up to 10 metres wide (32 feet), the size of a small airplane.

它被命名為“北風(fēng)之寒龍”，在大約七千七百萬(wàn)年前的今天，這種爬行動(dòng)物扇動(dòng)的翅膀會(huì)投下不祥的陰影，翼展可達(dá)10米寬(32英尺)，大小相當(dāng)于一架小型飛機(jī)。

Although these remains were first discovered 30 years ago, experts assumed they belonged to another monstrous azhdarchid species from the Cretaceous period, found in Texas and named Quetzalcoatlus. That creature had a wingspan up to 10.5 metres.

盡管這些化石是30年前首次發(fā)現(xiàn)的，但專家們認(rèn)為它們屬于白堊紀(jì)時(shí)期的另一種名為“風(fēng)神翼龍”(Quetzalcoatlus)的巨型阿茲達(dá)奇(azhdarchid)物種。這種動(dòng)物的翼展可達(dá)10.5米。

"This is a cool discovery, we knew this animal was here but now we can show it is different to other azhdarchids and so it gets a name," says David Hone from Queen Mary University of London.

“這是一個(gè)很酷的發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們知道這種動(dòng)物在這里，但現(xiàn)在我們可以證明它不同于其他阿茲達(dá)奇類動(dòng)物，所以它有了這樣的名字。”倫敦瑪麗女王大學(xué)的大衛(wèi)·霍恩說(shuō)。