Dino card No. 0260 of 2,027

Beipiaopterus

Say it: BAY-pee-OP-teh-rus

Name means: “wing from Beipiao”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Beipiaopterus was a small flying reptile that lived in the Early Cretaceous period. It had a wingspan of about 1 meter (3.3 feet) and its body was only about 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) long. This pterosaur ate fish and had special webbing on its feet.1 3

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

Lived

126 to 120 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Liaoning Province, China1 2

Food

Fish3 1

Length

up to 0.5 m1

estimated body length, assuming skull length similar to rest of body

Wingspan

1 m1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 3 bananas end to end

How big was Beipiaopterus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Beipiaopterus had a missing bone in its wing finger: the fourth phalanx was absent. Scientists think this was normal for this pterosaur, not a fossil mistake.1

Fossils of Beipiaopterus preserved soft parts, including wing membranes, a mane on its neck, and webbing between its toes.1

A study of its wing membrane using a scanning electron microscope found many blood vessels. This suggests the wings helped control body temperature.1

Beipiaopterus lived about 125 to 119 million years ago, during the Barremian and Aptian ages of the Early Cretaceous.2

The only known fossil of Beipiaopterus is a partial skeleton of a subadult, missing the skull. It includes neck, back, hip, and tail bones, plus a complete left wing and both hind legs.1

Scientists disagree on exactly where Beipiaopterus fits in the pterosaur family tree. Some think it was a basal member of the Ctenochasmatidae, while others place it in a more advanced group called Pterodaustrini.1

AI-made picture of Beipiaopterus — An AI-made picture of how Beipiaopterus 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 Beipiaopterus

?Is Beipiaopterus a dinosaur?

No, Beipiaopterus is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur.1

?How big was Beipiaopterus?

It had a wingspan of about 1 meter (3.3 feet) and a body length of about 50 centimeters (1.6 feet).1

?What did Beipiaopterus eat?

Beipiaopterus ate fish, as stated on the page.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Beipiaopterus
Named by: Lü 20033
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Lophocratia3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Rock formations: Yixian3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Beipiaopterus was named in 2003 by Chinese paleontologist Lü Junchang. The name comes from Beipiao City in Liaoning Province, and the species name honors paleontologist Professor Chen Peiji.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Beipiaopterus was a primitive or more advanced member of the ctenochasmatid pterosaurs.1

Where the facts come from

Beipiaopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Beipiaopterus 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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