Dino card No. 1046 of 2,027

Liaoningopterus

Say it: lee-ow-NING-op-TER-us

Name means: “Liaoning wing”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Liaoningopterus was a huge flying reptile that soared over ancient lakes in China. It had the biggest teeth of any pterosaur ever found, with one tooth longer than your hand!1

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

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Chaoyang, Liaoning, China1

Food

Fish1 3

Wingspan

5 m1

Weight

20 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 5 house cats

wings as wide as 3 bicycles in a rowas heavy as 4 watermelons

How big was Liaoningopterus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Its fourth upper tooth was 81 millimeters (3.2 inches) long, the largest known tooth of any pterosaur.1

The skull alone was about 61 centimeters (24 inches) long, longer than a ruler.1

It had small crests on the tip of its beak, both on the upper and lower jaw.1

Liaoningopterus had 20 pairs of teeth in the upper jaw and 13 or 14 pairs in the lower jaw.1

It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago.1

The name honors Professor Gu Zhiwei, who studied the Jehol Biota.1

Scientists estimate its wingspan was about 5 meters (16 feet), as wide as a small car.1

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

?What did Liaoningopterus eat?

Scientists think Liaoningopterus was probably a piscivore, meaning it ate fish, because it had a long, pointed snout.1

?How big was Liaoningopterus?

Its wingspan was about 5 meters (16 feet) and it weighed about 20 kilograms (44 pounds). Its skull was about 61 centimeters (24 inches) long.1

?When did Liaoningopterus live?

Liaoningopterus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Liaoningopterus
Named by: Wang and Zhou 20033
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Ornithocheiroidea3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)3
Rock formations: Jiufotang3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Liaoningopterus was named in 2003 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe, based on a crushed skull and partial skeleton found in Liaoning, China.1 2
Still debated: Scientists debate exactly where Liaoningopterus fits among the anhanguerid pterosaurs, with some placing it close to Anhanguera and others to Tropeognathus.1

Where the facts come from

Liaoningopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
TWO NEW PTERODACTYLOID PTEROSAURS FROM THE EARLY CRETACEOUS JIUFOTANG FORMATION OF WESTERN LIAONING,CHINA (vertpala.ac.cn)
Liaoningopterus 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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