新發(fā)現的翼龍，是有史以來比較大的飛行爬行動物之一

新發(fā)現的翼龍，是有史以來最大的飛行爬行動物之一

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.

在恐龍時代，北美的天空是一些世界上見過的最大的飛行動物的家園。現在，新的研究表明，至少有兩種大型翼爬行動物同時生活在這塊大陸上。

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.

古生物學家重新分析了在加拿大阿爾伯塔省發(fā)現的一堆翼龍化石，在阿茲達奇德(又名巨型翼龍)群中發(fā)現了一個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“北風之寒龍”，在大約七千七百萬年前的今天，這種爬行動物扇動的翅膀會投下不祥的陰影，翼展可達10米寬(32英尺)，大小相當于一架小型飛機。

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)現的，但專家們認為它們屬于白堊紀時期的另一種名為“風神翼龍”(Quetzalcoatlus)的巨型阿茲達奇(azhdarchid)物種。這種動物的翼展可達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.

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