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Jianchangopterus

Say it: JEE-an-chang-OP-ter-us

Name means: “Jianchang wing”3

Ate: FishFlying reptilesMiddle Jurassic to Late JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Jianchangopterus was a small, long-tailed pterosaur that flew over ancient China. It had a mouth full of sharp teeth and probably snatched fish from the water. This flying reptile lived during the Middle Jurassic period, about 168 to 152 million years ago.3 1

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

Lived

168 to 152 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Daxishan, Linglongta, Liaoning Province, China3

Food

Fish3

Wingspan

0.32 m2

estimate from arm and finger bones; taphonomic damage makes measurements uncertain

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How big was Jianchangopterus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Jianchangopterus had seven pairs of teeth in its upper jaw and six pairs in its lower jaw. That is 26 teeth in total.1

Its fourth wing finger bone was strongly curved and almost as long as the first wing finger bone. It was also much thinner than the other wing bones.1

This pterosaur had a special groove along the top of its lower jaw. Scientists call this a central ridge on the mandibular symphysis.1

Jianchangopterus is a member of the Scaphognathinae group. Its closest relatives include Scaphognathus and Sordes.3

The only known fossil of Jianchangopterus was found in the Tiaojishan Formation in China. This rock layer is famous for many Jurassic pterosaurs and dinosaurs.3 1

AI-made picture of Jianchangopterus — An AI-made picture of how Jianchangopterus 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.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Jianchangopterus
Named by: Lü and Bo 20113
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Rhamphorhynchidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Rhamphorhynchidae3
Age of the rocks: 168 to 152 million years (Bathonian / Kimmeridgian)3
Rock formations: Tiaojishan3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Jianchangopterus was named by Chinese paleontologists Lü Junchang and Xue Bo in 2011. They described it from a nearly complete skeleton with a skull found in Liaoning, China.3 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure about the exact size of Jianchangopterus. The only known fossil is a single skeleton, so its full wingspan and weight are still unknown.3

Where the facts come from

Jianchangopterus, new Chinese pterosaur (dml.reptilis.net)
Jianchangopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
Jianchangopterus 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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