Dino card No. 0797 of 2,027

Herbstosaurus

Say it: HERBST-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Herbst lizard”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate Jurassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Herbstosaurus was a flying reptile, not a dinosaur. It lived in the Late Jurassic period in what is now Argentina. This pterosaur was small and probably ate fish.1 3

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

Lived

149 to 143 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Neuquén Province, Argentina1 2

Food

Fish3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Herbstosaurus was first thought to be a small dinosaur, like Compsognathus. Later scientists realized it was a pterosaur, a flying reptile.1 2

The only known fossil of Herbstosaurus is a partial skeleton, including parts of the pelvis, sacrum, and both thigh bones. It is preserved in a sandstone nodule that also contains an ammonite shell.1 2

The name Herbstosaurus honors Rafael Herbst, the paleobotanist who found the fossil in 1969.1

Herbstosaurus lived about 149 to 143 million years ago, during the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic.3 2

Scientists think Herbstosaurus might belong to a group called Dsungaripteroidea, but this is not certain. It is a deeply nested pterodactyloid pterosaur.2

The fossil of Herbstosaurus was found in the Vaca Muerta Formation in Argentina, a place known for many Jurassic marine fossils.3 2

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

?Was Herbstosaurus a dinosaur?

No, Herbstosaurus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile, not a dinosaur. It was first thought to be a small dinosaur, but later scientists realized it was a pterosaur.1 2

?How big was Herbstosaurus?

Herbstosaurus was small, but its exact size is not known because only a partial skeleton has been found. It was originally thought to be one of the smallest dinosaurs, but it is a pterosaur.1 2

?What did Herbstosaurus eat?

Herbstosaurus probably ate fish, like many other pterosaurs. Its fossils were found in a marine rock formation, suggesting it lived near the sea.1 2

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Myth buster

Myth: Herbstosaurus was a dinosaur.

Truth: Herbstosaurus was actually a pterosaur, a flying reptile, not a dinosaur. It was originally mistaken for a small theropod dinosaur.1 2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Herbstosaurus
Named by: Casamiquela 19753
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Pterodactyloidea3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 149 to 143 million years (Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Vaca Muerta3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Rafael Herbst found the fossil in 1969 in Neuquén Province, Argentina. In 1975, paleontologist Rodolfo Casamiquela named it Herbstosaurus pigmaeus, thinking it was a small dinosaur.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly which group of pterosaurs Herbstosaurus belongs to. It might be a dsungaripteroid, but the evidence is weak.2

Where the facts come from

Herbstosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A revision of the pterodactyloid pterosaur Herbstosaurus pigmaeus Casamiquela, 1975 from the Late Jurassic of Argentina (scielo.br)
Herbstosaurus 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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