Dino card No. 1490 of 2,015

Pterodactylus

Say it: TERR-oh-DAK-til-us

Name means: “winged finger”1

Ate: MeatFlying reptilesEarly Jurassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Pterodactylus was one of the first flying reptiles ever discovered. It lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, and had wings made of skin and muscle that stretched from its long fourth finger to its back legs. It was a small pterosaur that probably ate insects and other small animals.1 2

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

Lived

201 to 133 million years ago3

Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Bavaria, Germany, with additional fossils possibly from France, Portugal, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom1 3

Food

Meat1

Length

0.5 to 1 m1

estimated adult size

Wingspan

0.5 to 1.5 m1

Artist's life restoration of Pterodactylus — How Pterodactylus may have looked, by Jean Hermann. Public domain, 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

Pterodactylus was the first pterosaur ever named and identified as a flying reptile, in 1809 by French scientist Georges Cuvier.1

Its fossils are often found in the Solnhofen limestone of Germany, which preserved soft body parts like jellyfish and feathers.1 2

Pterodactylus lived alongside other pterosaurs such as Rhamphorhynchus and Anurognathus, as well as the early bird Archaeopteryx.1

Unlike birds, pterosaurs like Pterodactylus were reptiles and their wings were made of skin and muscle, not feathers.2

Pterodactylus had a relatively high bite force for its size, which helped it crush the shells of invertebrates.1

The name Pterodactylus means 'winged finger' because its wing was supported by one very long finger.1

Myth buster

Myth: Many people think all pterosaurs are called pterodactyls and that they are dinosaurs.

Truth: Pterodactylus is just one genus of pterosaur, and pterosaurs are flying reptiles, not dinosaurs.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Pterodactylus
Named by: Cuvier 18093
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Monofenestrata3
Classification: Pterosauria3
Age of the rocks: 201 to 133 million years (Hettangian to Valanginian)3
Rock formations: Solnhofener Plattenkalk, Solnhofen, Tendaguru3
Countries: Germany, Tanzania, France, Portugal, United Kingdom3
Fossil records: 15 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Diopecephalus, Macrotrachelus, Pterotherium (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: The first known pterosaur fossil was discovered in the Solnhofen limestone of Germany in 1784. It was later named Pterodactylus by Georges Cuvier in 1809, making it the first pterosaur ever scientifically described.1 2
Still debated: Scientists still debate exactly how many species of Pterodactylus existed, with some suggesting that many fossils belong to just one species, Pterodactylus antiquus.1

Where the facts come from

Pterodactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
Pterosaurs: The truth about these ‘flying dinosaurs’ | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Pterodactylus 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.