page_title: Cimoliopterus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Cimoliopterus / Description
caption_attribution_description: Lonchodectes compressirostris (left) &amp; Cimoliopterus cuvieri (formerly Ornithocheirus).
context_page_description: Cimoliopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Cretaceous of England, United Kingdom and Texas, United States.
  The type species, Cimoliopterus cuvieri, was previously considered parts of several different genera depending on author, but received its own genus in 2013.
context_section_description: Bowerbank, extrapolating from the remains of P. giganteus, estimated a wingspan for P. cuvieri of about 5.029 meters (16.50 ft), making it the largest flying animal, extinct or extant, known in 1851. This claim at the time was met with considerable scepticism, though today, larger pterosaurs are known to have existed.
  In 2013, Rodrigues and Kellner established two unique derived traits, autapomorphies, for Cimoliopterus, making it unique among its relatives: its crest is placed far back on the premaxilla, at the level of the seventh tooth pair, but begins before the fenestra nasoantorbitalis, the large skull opening; there is a density of three teeth per 3 centimeters (1.2 in) at the front of the upper jaw and of two teeth at the back of the jaw. Furthermore, Cimoliopterus shows a unique combination of by themselves not unique traits: the snout has a crest; the ridge on the midline of the palate, at the front reaches the level of the third tooth pair; the palate is curved upwards; there is no expansion of the jaw at the front; the second and third tooth pairs are about equally large and larger than the fourth tooth pair; to the rear the distance between the teeth gradually increases.
caption: Restoration showing C. cuvieri stealing prey from Lonchodectes
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