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Brasileodactylus

Say it: bra-ZIL-ee-oh-DAK-til-us
Name means: “pterosaur (wing finger) from Brazil”1
Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Brasileodactylus was a flying reptile that soared over the warm seas of Early Cretaceous Brazil. It had a long pointed snout full of sharp, forward-pointing teeth, perfect for catching fish. Unlike many of its relatives, it had no crest on its snout or lower jaw.1

Fun fact: pterosaurs flew over the dinosaurs, but they were their cousins, not dinosaurs themselves.
Lived
120 to 113 million years ago3
Early Cretaceous
Fossils found in
Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Brazil13
Food
Fish13
Wingspan
4 m1
Weight
10 kg1
Top speed
about 63 km/h (39 mph)
Flying, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

Brasileodactylus wings about 4 m tip to tipA bicycle about 1.8 mA car about 4.5 mAn elephant, the biggest land animal today about 6.5 mA house about 10 m

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2.5 house cats
wings as wide as 2 bicycles in a rowas heavy as 83 bananas

How big was Brasileodactylus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Brasileodactylus lived about 112 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous.1

2

Its wingspan was about 4 meters (13 feet), and it weighed around 10 kilograms (22 pounds).1

3

The first fossil found was just the front part of a lower jaw, discovered by paleontologist Alexander Kellner in 1984.1

4

Some scientists think Brasileodactylus might be the same animal as Cearadactylus, another pterosaur from the same time and place.1

5

It had no crest on its snout or lower jaw, but it might have had a small crest on the back of its skull.1

6

Brasileodactylus is known from several fossils, including a nearly complete skull and a partial skeleton.1

AI-madeAI-made picture of Brasileodactylus
An AI-made picture of how Brasileodactylus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.
you asked

Most asked questions about Brasileodactylus

?What did Brasileodactylus eat?

It ate fish. Its long pointed snout and sharp, forward-pointing teeth were perfect for catching fish in the warm seas of Early Cretaceous Brazil.1

?Did Brasileodactylus have any crests?

No, it had no crest on its snout or lower jaw. However, it might have had a small crest on the back of its skull.1

?Is Brasileodactylus a dinosaur?

No, it is not a dinosaur. Brasileodactylus is a pterosaur, which is a flying reptile that lived alongside the dinosaurs.1

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Scientific name
Brasileodactylus
Named by
Kellner 19843
Group
Flying reptiles
Family / clade
Ornithocheiroidea3
Classification
Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks
120 to 113 million years (Aptian)3
Rock formations
Romualdo3
Countries
Brazil3
Fossil records
2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery
Brasileodactylus was named by Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Kellner in 1984 based on a front part of a lower jaw found in the Santana Formation of Brazil.13
Still debated
Scientists are not sure which family Brasileodactylus belongs to. Some place it in Anhangueridae, others in Ornithocheiridae, and some think it might be a separate group.12

Where the facts come from

  1. Brasileodactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
  2. Description of Pterosaurian (Pterodactyloidea: Anhangueridae, Brasileodactylus) remains from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil (natuurtijdschriften.nl)
  3. Brasileodactylus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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More from the same group: Flying reptiles

Also from the same time: Early Cretaceous

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