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Anhanguera

Say it: an-YAN-gweh-rah

Name means: “old spirit”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly Cretaceous to Late CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Anhanguera was a flying reptile that soared over ancient seas. It had a long, toothy beak and a wingspan as wide as a car. It was not a dinosaur, but a pterosaur, a close cousin of dinosaurs.1

Fun fact: pterosaurs flew over the dinosaurs, but they were their cousins, not dinosaurs themselves.

Lived

137 to 94 million years ago2

Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Brazil, Morocco, Australia, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and Egypt1 2

Food

Fish1 2

Wingspan

4.6 m1

Artist's life restoration of Anhanguera — How Anhanguera may have looked, by Matt Martyniuk. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Anhanguera had a crest on the front of its upper jaw, but it was set farther back on the skull than in its close relatives Coloborhynchus and Ornithocheirus.1

Some Anhanguera fossils have a small, blunt crest at the back of the skull, similar to other pteranodontoids.1

A study in 2003 showed that Anhanguera likely held its head at an angle to the ground, based on its inner ear structure, which helped it keep its balance.1

Anhanguera had bony rings in its eye sockets called scleral rings, which may have supported its eyes, similar to modern birds.1

The name Anhanguera comes from the Tupi language and means 'old spirit' or 'spirit protector of the animals'.1

Anhanguera lived during the Early to Late Cretaceous, from about 112 to 93 million years ago.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Anhanguera
Named by: Campos and Kellner 19852
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Ornithocheiroidea2
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea2
Age of the rocks: 137 to 94 million years (Valanginian to Cenomanian)2
Rock formations: Romualdo, West Melbury Marly Chalk, Toolebuc2
Countries: Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia, Morocco, Egypt, Colombia2
Fossil records: 18 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Anhanguera was named in 1985 by Brazilian paleontologists Diogenes de Almeida Campos and Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner, based on a complete skull found in the Romualdo Formation of Brazil.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether the crests on the jaws were present in all Anhanguera individuals or only in some, possibly depending on age or sex.1

Where the facts come from

Anhanguera (pterosaur) (en.wikipedia.org)
Anhanguera in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.