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Eopteranodon

Say it: ee-OP-ter-AN-oh-don

Name means: “dawn Pteranodon (toothless wing)”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Eopteranodon was a small, toothless flying reptile that lived during the Early Cretaceous. It had a big crest on its head and a wingspan about as wide as a bicycle is long. It glided over lakes and rivers in ancient China, snapping up fish with its beak.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

Yixian Formation, Beipiao, Liaoning, China1 2

Food

Fish3

Wingspan

1.1 to 1.37 m1 2

estimated from two specimens; the larger wingspan includes the pectoral girdle

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 2.5 house cats nose to tail

How big was Eopteranodon compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Eopteranodon had no teeth. Its beak was like a modern bird's, but it was a reptile, not a bird.1

Its skull was less than 200 millimeters long (7.9 inches), smaller than a human hand.1

Eopteranodon belonged to the Tapejaridae family, a group of pterosaurs with big head crests and downturned snouts.1 2

The first fossil of Eopteranodon was found in 2005 in Liaoning, China, a region famous for many amazing pterosaur and dinosaur fossils.1

A second species, Eopteranodon yixianensis, was named in 2023, but some scientists think it might not be a separate species.1 2

Eopteranodon lived about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.2

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

?What did Eopteranodon eat?

It ate fish. It was a piscivore, meaning it snapped up fish with its toothless beak while gliding over lakes and rivers.3

?How big was Eopteranodon?

It was small. Its wingspan was about 1.1 meters (3.6 feet), as wide as a bicycle is long, and its skull was less than 200 millimeters (7.9 inches) long.1

?Is Eopteranodon a dinosaur?

No, it is not a dinosaur. Eopteranodon was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived during the time of dinosaurs.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Eopteranodon is a dinosaur.

Truth: Eopteranodon is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur. Pterosaurs are a separate group of reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Eopteranodon
Named by: Lü and Zhang 20053
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Azhdarchoidea3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Rock formations: Yixian3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Eopteranodon was named in 2005 by paleontologists Lü Junchang and Zhang Xingliao. They described it from a partial skeleton and skull found in the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Eopteranodon yixianensis is a valid second species or just a different specimen of Eopteranodon lii.1 2

Where the facts come from

Eopteranodon (en.wikipedia.org)
A new species of Eopteranodon (Pterodactyloidea, Tapejaridae) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China (sciencedirect.com)
Eopteranodon 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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