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Ctenochasma

Say it: ten-oh-KAZ-muh

Name means: “comb jaw”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate Jurassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Ctenochasma was a flying reptile with a mouth full of hundreds of long, thin teeth that stuck out like a comb. It used its special beak to scoop up tiny animals from the water, like a spoonbill bird today.1

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

Lived

149 to 137 million years ago2

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria, Germany, the Purbeck Group of northeastern Germany, and the Calcaires tâchetés of eastern France1

Food

Fish1 2

Wingspan

up to 1.9 m1

for the smallest species, Ctenochasma elegans

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

as long as 4 house cats nose to tail

How big was Ctenochasma compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Ctenochasma had over 400 teeth in adults, all long, thin, and tightly packed together.1

Its teeth stuck outward from the jaws, forming a basket-like shape that helped catch small prey.1

Adult Ctenochasma had a bony crest on top of their skull, but young ones did not.1

Scientists think Ctenochasma was nocturnal, like some seabirds today, based on its eye bones.1

The smallest species, Ctenochasma elegans, had a wingspan of about 1.9 metres (6.2 feet) as an adult.1

Ctenochasma lived during the Late Jurassic period, around 150 to 145 million years ago.1

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

?Was Ctenochasma a dinosaur?

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

?How big was Ctenochasma?

The smallest species, Ctenochasma elegans, had a maximum wingspan of about 1.9 metres (6.2 feet) as an adult.1

?What did Ctenochasma eat?

It used its comb-like teeth to strain small invertebrates from the water, similar to how a spoonbill bird feeds today.1

?Did Ctenochasma have a crest?

Yes, adult Ctenochasma had a bony crest along the skull, but young ones did not.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ctenochasma
Named by: Meyer 18512
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Lophocratia2
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea2
Age of the rocks: 149 to 137 million years (Tithonian / Berriasian)2
Rock formations: Solnhofen, Solnhofener Plattenkalk, Calcaires tâchetés2
Countries: Germany, France2
Fossil records: 7 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: German paleontologist Hermann von Meyer named Ctenochasma in 1851, based on a lower jaw full of teeth. He first thought it was a crocodilian, not a pterosaur.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether all the different species of Ctenochasma are really just growth stages of one species, but a 2007 study showed three distinct species based on tooth number and shape.1

Where the facts come from

Ctenochasma (en.wikipedia.org)
Ctenochasma 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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