Gnathosaurus
Gnathosaurus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived during the Late Jurassic period. It had a long, thin skull with up to 130 needle-like teeth, which it used to scoop up small prey from the water. Imagine a flying reptile that acted like a modern spoonbill, wading through shallow water with its mouth open!1
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Fun facts
Gnathosaurus had a spoon-shaped tip on its snout, lined with up to 130 needle-like teeth.1
The first Gnathosaurus fossils were found in 1832 in Germany, but scientists thought they were from a crocodile, not a pterosaur.1
Gnathosaurus had a wingspan of about 1.7 meters (5.6 feet), which is about the same as a large eagle.1
Its skull was very slender and only 28 centimeters (11 inches) long, but it held a huge number of teeth.1
Gnathosaurus lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 149 to 145 million years ago.2
Some scientists think that young Gnathosaurus might have been mistaken for a different pterosaur called Aurorazhdarcho.1
Most asked questions about Gnathosaurus
?How big was Gnathosaurus?
About 1.7 metres (5.6 feet) in wingspan, which is similar to a large eagle. Its skull was about 28 centimetres (11 inches) long.1
?What did Gnathosaurus eat?
It was a filter feeder that scooped up small invertebrates from the water with its spoon-shaped mouth and needle-like teeth.13
?Was Gnathosaurus a dinosaur?
No, it was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Gnathosaurus
- Named by
- Meyer 18334
- Group
- Flying reptiles
- Family / clade
- Lophocratia4
- Classification
- Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea4
- Age of the rocks
- 168 to 137 million years (Bathonian / Berriasian)4
- Rock formations
- Solnhofener Plattenkalk, Taynton Limestone4
- Countries
- United Kingdom, Germany4
- Fossil records
- 3 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- The first Gnathosaurus fossils were discovered in 1832 in the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. They were first thought to be from a crocodile, but Hermann von Meyer named them Gnathosaurus subulatus in 1833.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating whether some small pterosaur skeletons, once called Pterodactylus micronyx or Aurorazhdarcho, are actually young Gnathosaurus.1
Where the facts come from
- Gnathosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
- Gnathosaurus (prehistoric-wildlife.com)
- Gnathosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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