Dino card No. 0266 of 2,027

Bennettazhia

Say it: BEN-et-AH-zhee-uh

Name means: “Bennett's dragon”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Bennettazhia was a flying reptile that lived about 103 million years ago. It had a wingspan as wide as a small car and may have eaten shellfish like a seagull. This pterosaur lived along the coast of what is now Oregon, USA.1 2

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

Lived

113 to 100 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Wheeler County, Oregon, USA (Hudspeth Formation)1 3

Food

Fish2

Wingspan

4 m1

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 2 bicycles in a row

How big was Bennettazhia compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Bennettazhia was first thought to be a species of Pteranodon, but later scientists realized it was a different kind of pterosaur.1

Its humerus (upper arm bone) was uncrushed and filled with a spongy tissue that made it strong but light. This helped scientists study how pterosaurs could launch from the ground.1

A fossil site in Oregon contained lots of broken ammonite shells and guano (poop) from pterosaurs. Scientists think Bennettazhia lived in big colonies on cliffs, like modern seagulls.2

Bennettazhia had a toothless beak with a hard tip, perfect for crushing shellfish.2

The name Bennettazhia honors scientist S. Christopher Bennett, who first suggested it was an azhdarchid pterosaur.1

Scientists are still debating whether Bennettazhia belongs to the Azhdarchidae, Dsungaripteridae, or Tapejaridae family.1

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

?How big was Bennettazhia?

About 4 metres (13 feet) across the wings, which is as wide as a small car.1

?What did Bennettazhia eat?

It probably ate shellfish like clams and ammonites, using its toothless beak to crush them, similar to modern seagulls.1 2

?Was Bennettazhia a dinosaur?

No, it was a pterosaur, which is a flying reptile and not a dinosaur.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Bennettazhia
Named by: Nessov 19913
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Azhdarchidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea > Azhdarchidae3
Age of the rocks: 113 to 100 million years (Albian)3
Rock formations: Hudspeth, Hudspeth3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: In 1928, Charles Gilmore named a new species of Pteranodon from fossils found in Oregon. In 1991, Russian paleontologist Lev Nessov renamed it Bennettazhia because it was actually a different pterosaur.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure which pterosaur family Bennettazhia belongs to. It has been placed in the Azhdarchidae, Dsungaripteridae, and Tapejaridae by different researchers.1

Where the facts come from

Bennettazhia (en.wikipedia.org)
Early Cretaceous pterosaur guano deposit from central Oregon, USA (idunn.no)
Bennettazhia 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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