Dino card No. 0903 of 2,027

Jeholopterus

Say it: jeh-HOL-op-TER-us

Name means: “Jehol wing”1

Ate: InsectsFlying reptilesMiddle JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Jeholopterus was a small flying reptile that lived in what is now China. It had a very short, wide skull like a frog and its wings were attached to its ankles. Scientists think it ate insects and maybe even small fish.2 1

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

Lived

165 to 162 million years ago5

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Inner Mongolia, China2 1

Food

Insects2 1

Wingspan

0.9 m2 1

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 house cats nose to tail

How big was Jeholopterus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Jeholopterus is one of the most complete anurognathid pterosaurs ever found, with its wing membranes and hair-like fibers preserved as fossils.2

Its skull was wider than it was long, giving it a frog-like face.2

The wing membrane attached to the ankle, and its feet were webbed, which may have helped it swim or walk on soft ground.2

Jeholopterus had a wingspan of about 90 centimeters (3 feet), making it a small to medium-sized pterosaur.2 1

The fossil was found in the Daohugou Beds of Inner Mongolia, which are about 165 to 160 million years old, from the Middle to Late Jurassic.1

Its wing claws were extremely long, about one and a half times the length of its foot claws.2

The hair-like fibers on its body are called pycnofibers, and they are not the same as mammalian hair.2

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

?Was Jeholopterus a dinosaur?

No, Jeholopterus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is closely related to dinosaurs but not a dinosaur itself.1 3

?How big was Jeholopterus?

Jeholopterus had a wingspan of about 90 centimeters (35 inches), which is about the size of a Mallard Duck.1 3

?What did Jeholopterus eat?

Scientists think Jeholopterus mostly ate insects, but its longer, curved teeth suggest it might also have eaten small fish.1 4

?Did Jeholopterus have feathers?

No, Jeholopterus did not have feathers. It was covered in hair-like fibers called pycnofibers, which are different from mammalian hair.1 3

?Could Jeholopterus swim?

It might have been able to swim. Its feet were webbed and the wing membrane attached to the ankle, which could have helped it move in water.1 4

?When did Jeholopterus live?

Jeholopterus lived during the Middle to Late Jurassic period, about 168 to 160 million years ago.1 5

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Jeholopterus
Named by: Wang et al. 20025
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Anurognathidae5
Classification: Pterosauria5
Age of the rocks: 165 to 162 million years (Callovian)5
Rock formations: Tiaojishan5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Jeholopterus was named in 2002 by Wang Xiaolin, Zhou Zhonghe, and Xu Xing. The only known fossil was found in Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Jeholopterus ate only insects or also caught fish, because it had both short peg-like teeth and longer curved teeth.2 1

Where the facts come from

Jeholopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and “hairs” from Inner Mongolia, northeast China (ivpp.cas.cn)
Pterosaur: Jeholopterus ningchengensis | AMNH (amnh.org)
A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and “hairs” from Inner Mongolia, northeast China (ivpp.cas.cn)
Jeholopterus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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