Dino card No. 0199 of 2,027

Aurorazhdarcho

Say it: aw-ROAR-az-DAR-ko

Name means: “dawn azhdarchid, from Latin 'aurora' meaning dawn and Azhdarcho, a mythical dragon”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Aurorazhdarcho was a small flying reptile that lived 150 million years ago. It soared over warm lagoons in what is now Germany, using its long jaws to scoop up tiny animals from the water.1

Fun fact: pterosaurs flew over the dinosaurs, but they were their cousins, not dinosaurs themselves.

Lived

149 to 145 million years ago3

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Bavaria, southern Germany1 3

Food

Fish1 3

Wingspan

2 to 3 m2

estimate for early azhdarchoids

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

wings as wide as 1.5 bicycles in a row

How big was Aurorazhdarcho compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Aurorazhdarcho had a wingspan of about 1.1 metres (3.6 feet), making it one of the smaller pterosaurs.1

Its head and neck are known only from impressions, because a predator almost ripped them off before the body sank.1

The fossil was found in 1999 by amateur paleontologist Peter Kaszmekat in a quarry near Eichstätt, Germany.1

It had up to 18 long, curved teeth on each side of its jaws, which interlocked to form a basket for catching food.1

Scientists think it may have fed like a spoonbill, wading with its jaws open and snapping shut on prey.1

The type specimen was probably a male, because its pelvis bones were fused in a way that suggests it lacked a wide birth canal.1

AI-made picture of Aurorazhdarcho — An AI-made picture of how Aurorazhdarcho might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Aurorazhdarcho

?What did Aurorazhdarcho eat?

It ate small animals from the water. It used its long jaws and up to 18 curved teeth per side to scoop up tiny prey like a spoonbill.1

?How big was Aurorazhdarcho?

It was a small pterosaur with a wingspan of about 1.1 metres (3.6 feet). Its wing bones measured about 54 centimetres (21 inches) long.1

?When did Aurorazhdarcho live?

It lived about 150 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period.1 3

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Myth buster

Myth: Aurorazhdarcho was a dinosaur.

Truth: It was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived at the same time as dinosaurs but was not a dinosaur.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Aurorazhdarcho
Named by: Frey et al. 20113
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Protazhdarchidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 149 to 145 million years (Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Solnhofen3
Countries: Germany3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fossil was found in 1999 by amateur Peter Kaszmekat in Germany. It was named Aurorazhdarcho primordius by Eberhard Frey and colleagues in 2011.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Aurorazhdarcho is really a separate genus or just a young Gnathosaurus, because the skulls look similar.1

Where the facts come from

Aurorazhdarcho (en.wikipedia.org)
The oldest azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone (Early Tithonian) of Southern Germany (exa.ai)
Aurorazhdarcho in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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