Dino card No. 0658 of 2,027

Ferrodraco

Say it: fair-oh-DRAH-ko

Name means: “iron dragon”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Ferrodraco was a flying reptile that soared over ancient Australia about 95 million years ago. It had a wingspan as wide as a small car and used its long, spike‑shaped teeth to catch fish.1

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

Lived

100 to 90 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Queensland, Australia3 1

Food

Fish1

Length

0.6 m2

skull length estimate

Wingspan

4 m1

estimate based on comparisons with related pterosaurs

Weight

10 kg2

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2.5 house cats

as long as 3 bananas end to endas heavy as 83 bananas

How big was Ferrodraco compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Ferrodraco is the most complete pterosaur ever found in Australia. Most Australian pterosaurs are known from just a few bones.1

Its name means 'iron dragon' because the fossil bones were preserved in a hard, iron‑rich rock called ironstone.1

Ferrodraco had a crest on its upper jaw and lower jaw, and its teeth were shaped like spikes with round bases.1

The first tooth on each side of the upper and lower jaws was smaller than the teeth behind it. The fourth through seventh teeth were also smaller than the third and eighth teeth.1

Ferrodraco lived during the Cenomanian to early Turonian period, about 100 to 90 million years ago. It might have been one of the last of its group, the anhanguerians, to survive.1

The fossil was discovered in April 2017 by one of the scientists who later described it, while exploring a site in Queensland called the 'Pterosaur Site'.1

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

?How big was Ferrodraco?

Ferrodraco had a wingspan of about 4 metres (13 feet) and weighed about 10 kilograms (22 pounds).2 1

?What did Ferrodraco eat?

Ferrodraco ate fish. It had long, spike-shaped teeth that were perfect for catching fish.1 2

?Where was Ferrodraco found?

Ferrodraco was found in Queensland, Australia, at a site called the 'Pterosaur Site' on Belmont Station near Winton.1 2

?Is Ferrodraco a dinosaur?

No, Ferrodraco is not a dinosaur. It is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived during the time of dinosaurs.2 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ferrodraco
Named by: Pentland et al. 20193
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Anhangueridae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 90 million years (Cenomanian / Turonian)3
Rock formations: Winton3
Countries: Australia3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Ferrodraco was named and described in 2019 by Adele Pentland and her team. The species name 'lentoni' honors Graham 'Butch' Lenton, a former mayor of Winton who supported the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Ferrodraco and other anhanguerians survived the end of the Cenomanian period in Australia, or if they died out earlier elsewhere.1

Where the facts come from

Ferrodraco lentoni gen. et sp. nov., a new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Winton Formation (Cenomanian, lower Turonian) of Queensland, Australia | Scientific Reports (nature.com)
Ferrodraco (en.wikipedia.org)
Ferrodraco 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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