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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.
Pteranodon (/ t ə ˈ r æ n ə d ɒ n /; from Ancient Greek: πτερόν, romanized: pteron ' wing ' and ἀνόδων, anodon ' toothless ') [2] [better source needed] is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with P. longiceps having a wingspan of over 6 m (20 ft).
Least-inclusive clade containing Anhanguera, Pteranodon, Dsungaripterus, and Quetzalcoatlus: Previously defined as the least-inclusive clade containing both Pteranodon and Istiodactylus (this clade is now called Pteranodontoidea - see below) Ornithocheiromorpha: Andres et al., 2014 [3] Most-inclusive clade containing Ornithocheirus but not ...
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]
Alexander Kellner, for example, named several additional species for specimens previously classified as Pteranodon, and placed P. sternbergi in a distinct genus, Geosternbergia. Kellner re-defined Pteranodontidae as the most recent common ancestor of Pteranodon longiceps , Geosternbergia sternbergi and Dawndraco kanzai , and all of its descendants.
The genus is present in the lower the Niobrarra Formation except for the upper two; in 2003, Kenneth Carpenter surveyed the distribution and dating of fossils in this formation, demonstrating that Pteranodon sternbergi existed there from 88 to 85 million years ago, while the species later named G. maiseyi existed between 81.5 and 80.5 million ...
The pterosaurs' flocculi occupied 7.5% of the animals' total brain mass, more than in any other vertebrate. Birds have unusually large flocculi compared with other animals, but these only occupy between 1 and 2% of total brain mass. [19] The flocculus sends out neural signals that produce small, automatic movements in the eye muscles.
Azhdarchoidea (/æʒdɑːrˈkɔɪdɪːə/, meaning "azhdarchid-like forms") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, Tendaguripterus, that lived in the Late Jurassic period.