Pterodactylus

*Pterodactylus elegans*

***Pterodactylus*** ("winged finger") is an extinct flying reptile genus of pterosaurs, whose members are popularly known as "pterodactyls". It is currently thought to contain only a single species, *Pterodactylus antiquus*, the first pterosaur species to be named and identified as a flying reptile.

It was a carnivore, and probably preyed upon fish and other small animals. Like all pterosaurs, *Pterodactylus* had wings formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges.

## Description

*Pterodactylus* is known from over 30 fossil specimens, and though most of those are juveniles, many preserve complete skeletons. *Pterodactylus antiquus* was a relatively small pterosaur, with an estimated adult wingspan of about 1.04 meters (3 feet 5 inches) (the only known adult specimen is represented by an isolated skull). Other "species" were once thought to be smaller. However, these smaller specimens have been shown to represent juveniles of *Pterodactylus*, as well as its contemporary relatives including *Ctenochasma*, *Germanodactylus*, *Aerodactylus*, *Aurorazhdarcho*, and *Gnathosaurus*.

   *Pterodactylus*, like related pterosaurs, had a crest on its skull composed mainly of soft tissues. In adult *Pterodactylus*, this crest extended between the back edge of the antorbital fenestra (the largest opening in the skull) and the back of the skull. In at least one specimen, the crest had a short bony base, also seen in related pterosaurs like *Germanodactylus*. Solid crests have only been found on large, fully adult specimens of *Pterodactylus*, indicating that this was a display structure that became larger and more well developed as individuals reached maturity. Bennett (2013) noted that other authors claimed that the soft tissue crest of *Pterodactylus* extended backward behind the skull; Bennett himself, however, didn't find any evidence for the crest extending past the back of the skull. Two specimens of *P. antiquus* (the holotype specimen BSP AS I 739 and the incomplete skull BMMS 7, the largest known skull of P. antiquus) have a low bony crest on their skulls; in BMMS 7 it is 47.5 mm long (more or less 24% of the estimated total length of its skull) and has a maximum height of 0.9 mm above the orbit.

## JPInstitute.com Description

The very first pterosaur ever discovered was a Pterodactylus, commonly referred to as Pterodactyl. It was found in Germany in 1812. Pterodactylus is not a dinosaur; rather, it is a flying reptile.

Because Pterodactylus was the first ever discovered, people used its name to refer to other flying reptiles. They called them all Pterodactyls, which is not scientifically correct. However, since the name was used for so many years, some scientists still call all the flying reptiles Pterodactyls.

Beginning in the mid to late Triassic, the skies were filled with flying reptiles that had long, flexible tails. This family of flyers is called the Rhamphorynchoidea. They lived alongside the short tailed Pterodactyloidea for the last 10 million years of the Jurassic Period and then the long tailed flyers disappeared forever. Pterodactylus was among the first of the family of short tailed flying reptiles that appeared at the end of the Jurassic Period.

Pterodactylus was pretty small compared with some of the other flying reptiles, especially those giants, like Pteranodon, that lived at the end of the age of dinosaurs. There are several differences between Pterodactylus and the Pteranodons seen in the last two Jurassic Park films. Pterodactylus had teeth, Pteranodon didn't. Pteranodon was much larger, nearly ten times as big as its smaller cousin. Pteranodon males also had a long crest, Pterodactylus males didn't. Also, nearly 40 million years separated the two animals.

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, all the flying reptiles became extinct. It is a curious fact that it was the dinosaurs that evolved into birds and not the flying reptiles.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040214170459fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_pterodactylus.html#