Dracula Rises Again (Not!): Giant Azhdarchid from Transylvania

[ITdactyl]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adcEKfmn8EY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM0nOuU0HTg

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/giant-pterosaur-1.4589450

This news seems to be fresh, as most outlets posted it within the last 5 days.  Apparently fossils from Transylvania have been identified as belonging to an Azhdarchid, and a giant form at that.  When I saw the news, I thought it was just Hatzegopteryx - though it was never identified by its scientific name... people just refer to it as Dracula.

Heh... there seems to be a lot buzz going for these findings, akin to the announcement for the quadrupedal posture of Spinosaurus.  I'm a pterosaur-nut, I'm excited about this news - but I'm also waiting for the papers.

David Peters has already shared his view about the topic; I'm waiting for Mark Witton and others to say their piece.
I do love the art accompanying the news article though.

[Reptilia]

Bigger than Quetzalcoatlus then. They better find a cool scientific name for it, possibly not something like Draculasaurus or similars.

[stargatedalek]

IIRC the remains were described ~5(?) years or so ago, but never formally named.

[Flaffy]

Mark Witton's say on the matter:
I'm finding this really irritating, to be honest. There's no paper, which is an immediate red flag to any sensationalist claim about new species, unusual lifestyle and giant size (surely the hat trick of palaeontological PR). A lot of us know the specimens in question (they're fragments from numerous individuals) and they do not seem to support half of what is being said here (especially the large size and flightlessness). Unless the authors have something really special behind the scenes, this is a lot of hot air that will struggle in peer review if it goes to any half-decent pterosaur researcher.

In short, best to ignore until a proper paper is out

[Faelrin]

Cool artwork at least, even if this is not a true new find. I think it would be fun if they gave its species name some tie to Dracula, but it's not necessary either.

Also the title of the second video is eyeroll worthy. Edit: The first one too, ah!

[ITdactyl]

I should've addded a question mark to my post title... 

Yep, I agree with your points.  I'm waiting for the paper from Matyas Vremir (and the peer reviews that I expect would follow).  That should prove to be an interesting read at least.  As @stargatedalek pointed out, I've been waiting years for any material about the Transylvanian pterosaur.  I was [a bit] surprised to find that there's already a museum exhibit and some press coverage despite not having any formal papers about the fossil material.

@Flaffy, where'd you get that quote from Witton?  I was a bit surprised that Vremir has some very strong words about Witton and Naish (related to these findings), so I was very curious about what Dr. Witton has to say about these findings.

@Faelrin, typical media I guess - "sensational" sells.....

@Reptilia: half a tonne... that's twice the weight of a male grizzly... and extrapolated from a few scraps of bone.  I'm taking this with a [grizzly sized] grain of salt.

[Flaffy]

Witton's facebook.