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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]
Applying that ratio to the overall size, Frey and Martill in the late 1990s concluded that the wingspan of Arambourgiania was 11 to 13 m (36 to 43 ft), larger than the estimated wingspan of Quetzalcoatlus, which measured 10 to 11 m (33 to 36 ft). This would have made Arambourgiania the largest pterosaur ever known.
The partial skeleton was made the holotype specimen of this new pterosaur. Its generic name means "cold dragon" in Ancient Greek, in reference to its Canadian origin, while its specific name refers to the Greek god of the north winds, Boreas. All azhdarchid remains from the Dinosaur Park Formation were subsequently referred to Cryodrakon.
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 ...
Lawson began his synecological research during his master's degree studying the paleoecology of the Tornillo Formation in Big Bend National Park, Texas.During his study of this Late Cretaceous intermontane basin community, he discovered the fossil remains of the giant pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus Northropi, which he named in honor of John K. Northrop because of its similarity to Northrop's flying ...
It is comparable to the wingspan estimate of the contemporary species Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni, which sits at about 4.5 m (15 ft). The blunt structure of the snout, coupled with the more robustly-built and shorter neck of Wellnhopterus is quite different from the contemporary azhdarchid Quetzalcoatlus, which had more slender jaws and a longer neck.