This was one of the weirdest and most specialized members of its family. It had a crest and wings, the usual pterosaur traits but also a pair of wickedly curved jaws that are still a mystery to many.
A compilation of the best Pteranodon illustrations, facts, fossils, and maps. See how it lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous period.
The first record of boreopterids outside of China is also the first record of them in a riverside environment.
The size and flight mechanics of giant pterosaurs have received considerable research interest for the last century but are confused by conflicting interpretations of pterosaur biology and flight capabilities. Avian biomechanical parameters have often been applied to pterosaurs in such research but, due to considerable differences in avian and pterosaur anatomy, have lead to systematic errors interpreting pterosaur flight mechanics. Such assumptions have lead to assertions that giant pterosaurs were extremely lightweight to facilitate flight or, if more realistic masses are assumed, were flightless. Reappraisal of the proportions, scaling and morphology of giant pterosaur fossils suggests that bird and pterosaur wing structure, gross anatomy and launch kinematics are too different to be considered mechanically interchangeable. Conclusions assuming such interchangeability—including those indicating that giant pterosaurs were flightless—are found to be based on inaccurate and poorly supported assumptions of structural scaling and launch kinematics. Pterosaur bone strength and flap-gliding performance demonstrate that giant pterosaur anatomy was capable of generating sufficient lift and thrust for powered flight as well as resisting flight loading stresses. The retention of flight characteristics across giant pterosaur skeletons and their considerable robustness compared to similarly-massed terrestrial animals suggest that giant pterosaurs were not flightless. Moreover, the term ‘giant pterosaur’ includes at least two radically different forms with very distinct palaeoecological signatures and, accordingly, all but the most basic sweeping conclusions about giant pterosaur flight should be treated with caution. Reappraisal of giant pterosaur material also reveals that the size of the largest pterosaurs, previously suggested to have wingspans up to 13 m and masses up to 544 kg, have been overestimated. Scaling of fragmentary giant pterosaur remains have been misled by distorted fossils or used inappropriate scaling techniques, indicating that 10–11 m wingspans and masses of 200–250 kg are the most reliable upper estimates of known pterosaur size.
Anurognathidae This small pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China probably filled a similar ecological role as a living swallow: aerial insect hunter.
Dinosaurs are nature’s celebrities. We love them. Many of us, in the near-ubiquitous “dinosaur phase” of our youth, quickly master names like Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus, and—the challenge of any young fossil fan—Pachycephalosaurus by the time we start kindergarten. But dinosaurs are changing so fast that the monstrous creatures we imagine in our youth become strangers as […]
Travel back millions of years to a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth with these articles, photos, and profiles.
Hatzegopteryx thambema (Late Cretaceous 66 Ma), Life Restoration by Mark Witton
"Stormbringer" by @JuliotheArtist / Twitter
From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics, get the full story with all the live commentary.
Readers of Prehistoric Times magazine have voted the CollectA Dimorphodon model the best non-dinosaur prehistoric animal toy of 2017.
Scientists have published a new paper identifying the first pterosaur fossils known from Uruguay. The fossils come from the Tacuarembó Formation.
This German flier was sometimes no bigger than today's smaller birds. Its main claim to fame though, are its teeth, which had evolved into bristles for filtering tiny plankton out of the lagoons.
It’s probably – no, surely – true to say that palaeoart (aka paleoart) is more popular right now that it ever has been, a fact due in equal part to a vibrant, active community of people worldwide, to the instant, ubiquitous reach of the internet and the connectedness we feel via social media, to sel
