Ornithocheirus

Ornithocheirus means 'bird hand' because scientists first thought its wing bones looked like a bird's hand.1

Only one species is considered valid today: Ornithocheirus simus. Many other fossils once called Ornithocheirus are now placed in different genera.1

Its fossils were found in the Cambridge Greensand of England, a layer of rock that was once a sandy seabed about 110 million years old.1

Ornithocheirus had a keel-shaped crest on its snout, which may have been used for display or to help it steer in flight.1

Its teeth were mostly straight up and down, not angled outward like those of some of its relatives.1

Early paleontologists like Richard Owen argued about its name. Owen preferred Criorhynchus ('ram beak') because he did not like the idea of evolution.1

Some fossils once thought to be birds, like Cimoliornis and Palaeornis, turned out to be Ornithocheirus or its relatives.1