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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.
Pterosaurs are also colloquially referred to as pterodactyls, particularly in fiction and journalism. [16] However, technically, pterodactyl may refer to members of the genus Pterodactylus, and more broadly to members of the suborder Pterodactyloidea of the pterosaurs. [17] Pterosaurs had a variety of lifestyles.
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]
Pterodactylus (from Ancient Greek: πτεροδάκτυλος, romanized: pterodáktylos ' winged finger ' [2]) is a genus of extinct pterosaurs.It is thought to contain only a single species, Pterodactylus antiquus, which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying reptile and one of the first prehistoric reptiles to ever be discovered.
Hatzegopteryx (A-B, holotype in light grey and referred elements in dark grey) compared with Arambourgiania (C) and Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni (D-E) Similarities between the humerus of Hatzegopteryx and Quetzalcoatlus northropi have been noted, as both of them have a long, smooth deltopectoral crest and a thickened humeral head.
Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of Pterodaustro guinazui and Quetzalcoatlus northropi, and all its descendants. [7] This group was named for the presence of a head crest in most known species, though this feature has since been found in more primitive pterosaurs and was probably an ancestral feature for all ...
Cryodrakon is thought to have been capable of flight, [3] which would make it one of the largest flying animals known to have existed, just like Quetzalcoatlus. [4] Azhdarchid pterosaurs similar to Cryodrakon are currently thought to have fed by hunting for smaller animals while on the ground, similar to modern day marabou storks. [17]
The first one consists of the pterosaurs Arambourgiania, Mistralazhdarcho, Aerotitan, Hatzegopteryx, and Albadraco, while the second one consists of Cryodrakon, Quetzalcoatlus, and Thanatosdrakon itself. In this second quetzalcoatline clade, Thanatosdrakon is more specifically recovered as the sister taxon of Quetzalcoatlus.