Millions of years ago, a huge and powerful hunter flew in the skies above a former sea in what is now Australia.
数百万年前,在现在的澳大利亚,一个巨大而强悍的猎人在以前的海洋上空飞行。
Its large mouth and long, pointed teeth captured fish and other sea life.
它的大嘴和又长又尖的牙齿用以捕获鱼类和其他海洋生物。
Scientists in Australia recently announced the discovery of fossil remains of the animal, named Haliskia peterseni.
澳大利亚的科学家最近宣布发现了这种动物的化石遗骸,命名为哈利斯基亚·彼得塞尼。
They said the fossils are the most complete remains of any pterosaur ever unearthed in Australia.
他们说,这些化石是澳大利亚出土的最完整的翼龙遗骸。
The creature lived alongside dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period, the researchers said.
研究人员说,这种生物在白垩纪时期与恐龙生活在一起。
Haliskia means "sea phantom." The researchers said Haliskia's wings measured 4.6 meters across from end to end.
哈利斯基亚的意思是“海上幽灵”。研究人员表示,哈利斯基亚的翅膀两端宽4.6米。
The animal lived about 100 million years ago.
这种动物生活在大约1亿年前。
"The Eromanga Sea was a massive inland sea covering large parts of Australia when this pterosaur was alive," said Adele Pentland, a doctoral student in paleontology at Curtin University in Australia.
Pentland was the lead writer of a study, which appeared recently in the publication Scientific Reports.
彭特兰是一项研究的主要作者,该研究最近发表在《科学报告》杂志上。
The thin bones of pterosaurs do not easily turn into fossils.
翼龙的细骨头不容易变成化石。
For Haliskia, only 22 percent of the skeleton was unearthed.
对于哈利斯基亚来说,只有22%的骨架被挖掘出来。
The bones included complete lower jaws, part of the upper jaw, throat bones, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from both wings and part of one leg.
这些骨头包括完整的下颚、部分上颚、喉骨、43颗牙齿、椎骨、肋骨、两侧翅膀的骨头和一条腿的一部分。
Pentland said the researchers believe the muscle in the animal's mouth, called the tongue, was very strong, based on the length of its throat bones.
彭特兰说,研究人员认为,根据这种动物喉咙骨骼的长度,它嘴里的肌肉,也就是舌头,非常强壮。
"In many other pterosaurs, the throat bones are 30 percent or 60 percent the length of the lower jaw,
“在许多其他翼龙中,喉骨是下颚长度的30%或60%,
whereas in Haliskia the throat bones are 70 percent the length of the lower jaw," Pentland said.
而哈利斯克亚的喉骨是下颚长度的70%,”彭特兰说。
Haliskia is a little larger and older, by about 5 million years, than the closely related Australian pterosaur Ferrodraco.
哈利斯基亚比近亲澳大利亚翼龙费罗德里科要大一些,也要年代久远一些,大约500万年。
Scientists announced its discovery in 2019.
科学家们在2019年宣布了这一发现。
Haliskia's remains are more complete than those of Ferrodraco.
哈利斯基亚的遗骸比费罗德拉科的遗骸更完整。
Both animals belong to a pterosaur group called anhanguerians known from remains found in China, the United States, Brazil, Britain, Spain and Morocco.
The three other named Australian pterosaurs are known only from partial jaw bones, Pentland said.
彭特兰说,另外三种被命名的澳大利亚翼龙仅从部分颌骨中得知。
The Haliskia individual's body ended up buried under sediment at the bottom of the Eromanga Sea.
哈利斯基亚的尸体最终被埋在埃罗曼加海底的沉积物下。
Pterosaurs were the first of three vertebrate groups to fly, appearing about 230 million years ago.
翼龙是三种会飞的脊椎动物中的第一种,大约出现在2.3亿年前。
Birds appeared about 150 million years ago and bats appeared around 50 million years ago.
鸟类大约出现在1.5亿年前,蝙蝠大约出现在5000万年前。
Pentland said the Haliskia discovery is also important because for many years experts believed Australia had very few fossils from the age of dinosaurs.