The ancient flying terrors were as large as school buses.

The ‘Dragon of Death’ feasted on birds over 80 million years ago.
Imagine a winged dinosaur the size of a school bus casting a massive shadow over you as it swoops down to Earth. Fossils of such a beast, dubbed the « dragon of death, » have been unearthed by scientists in the Andes mountains region of Argentina, according to a report by Reuters.
The ancient flying reptiles roamed the skies 86 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, at around the same time as dinosaurs. The creature had a huge wingspan, measuring up to about 30-feet long.
This new species is now one of the largest flying reptiles discovered worldwide, and the largest found in South America.
« Dragon of death » is a catchy moniker stemming from the newly discovered creature’s official scientific name: Thanatosdrakon amaru. The name is a combination of the ancient Greek words for death (thanatos) and dragon (drakon).
« It seemed appropriate to name it that way, » project leader Leonardo Ortiz told Reuters. « It’s the dragon of death. »
The research was published in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research in April.