Dino card No. 0498 of 2,027

Dearc

Say it: jark SKEE-an-ach

Name means: “winged reptile or reptile from Skye in Scottish Gaelic”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesMiddle JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Dearc was a flying reptile that lived in the Middle Jurassic, about 167 million years ago. It was one of the biggest flying animals of its time, with wings as wide as a small car! It soared over the lagoons of what is now Scotland.1

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

Lived

168 to 165 million years ago6

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK1 3

Food

Fish2

Wingspan

2.5 to 3 m1 3

estimated from a juvenile-subadult specimen

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 Dearc compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Dearc was not fully grown when it died. It was a juvenile or subadult, still actively growing, so adults might have been even bigger.1 3

Its wingspan was about 2.5 to 3 metres (8 to 10 feet), as wide as a wandering albatross, the largest flying bird today.1

Before Dearc was discovered, scientists thought pterosaurs stayed small until the Cretaceous period. Dearc shows they got big much earlier.1 3

The fossil was found at Brothers' Point on the Isle of Skye in 2017, during a National Geographic-funded field trip.1

Its name comes from Scottish Gaelic and means both 'winged reptile' and 'reptile from Skye', because Skye is called the 'winged isle'.1

Dearc had a long, low skull and a slender upper arm bone, which helped it fly.1

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

?How big was Dearc?

Dearc had a wingspan of about 2.5 to 3 metres, as wide as a wandering albatross, the largest flying bird today. It was not fully grown when it died, so adults might have been even bigger.3 4

?When did Dearc live?

Dearc lived in the Middle Jurassic, about 167 million years ago.3

?Where was Dearc found?

The fossil was found at Brothers' Point on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 2017.3

?What did Dearc eat?

Dearc had two types of teeth: long fangs at the front and peg-like teeth further back, which suggests it ate fish or other small animals.3

?Is Dearc a dinosaur?

No, Dearc is a pterosaur, a flying reptile, not a dinosaur.3

?Why is Dearc important?

Dearc shows that pterosaurs grew to large sizes much earlier than scientists thought, because before its discovery they believed big pterosaurs only appeared in the Cretaceous.3 5

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Dearc
Named by: Jagielska et al. 20226
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Rhamphorhynchidae6
Classification: Pterosauria > Rhamphorhynchidae6
Age of the rocks: 168 to 165 million years (Bathonian)6
Rock formations: Lealt Shale6
Countries: United Kingdom6
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database6
Discovery: The first Dearc fossil was discovered on May 23, 2017, at Brothers' Point on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, by a team led by Stephen Brusatte. It was named Dearc sgiathanach by Jagielska and colleagues in 2022.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Dearc could grow, because the only known fossil is from a young animal that was still growing.1

Where the facts come from

A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs: Current Biology (cell.com)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Dearc (en.wikipedia.org)
Report A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs (sciencedirect.com)
Jurassic Dearc | Nature Ecology & Evolution (nature.com)
Dearc 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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