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Quetzalcoatlus (/ k ɛ t s əl k oʊ ˈ æ t l ə s /) is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in North America. The type specimen, recovered in 1971 from the Javelina Formation of Texas, United States, consists of several wing fragments and was described as Quetzalcoatlus northropi in 1975 by Douglas Lawson.
The name Quetzalcoatl comes from Nahuatl and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent". [15] In the 17th century, Ixtlilxóchitl, a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of the Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers' but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word azhdar, اژدر, a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). [1]
A related problem is the origin of pterosaur flight. [140] Like with birds, hypotheses can be ordered into two main varieties: "ground up" or "tree down". Climbing a tree would cause height and gravity to provide both the energy and a strong selection pressure for incipient flight.
They assigned it to Quetzalcoatlus northropi and mistakenly identified it as a femur. A wingspan of 13 m (43 ft) was estimated. A wingspan of 13 m (43 ft) was estimated. [ 5 ] [ 2 ] However, nowadays, wingspan estimates for Q. northropi have been more moderate, at around 10 to 11 m (33 to 36 ft), which would still make it one of the largest ...
Cast of an assigned wrist bone. The first pterosaur remains from Romania were identified by Franz Nopcsa in 1899, and the first remains of Hatzegopteryx were found during a student dig in the late 1970s from the upper part of the Middle Densuş Ciula Formation of Vălioara, northwestern Hațeg Basin, Transylvania, western Romania, which has been dated to the late Maastrichtian stage of the ...
A 3-year-old's very specific Halloween costume request left his mother stumped — until she finally figured it out.
Pterodactyloidea (/ˌtɛrəˈdækt͡ɬɔɪdɪːə/; derived from the Greek words πτερόν (pterón, for usual ptéryx) "wing", and δάκτυλος (dáktylos) "finger") [1] is one of the two traditional suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles.