Melkamter
Melkamter was a flying reptile that lived in what is now Argentina during the Early Jurassic. It had a single big opening in the side of its skull, which is a clue that it was an early relative of the later pterodactyls.2
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Fun facts
Melkamter is the oldest known monofenestratan pterosaur, meaning it lived earlier than any other member of that group.2
Its name comes from the Tehuelche language: 'mel' means wing and 'kamter' means big lizard.2
The species name 'pateko' honors the Queso Rallado fossil site and the broken condition of the bones.2
Melkamter had a skull with a single opening in front of the eye, a feature that links it to later pterodactyloids.2
Its teeth were short, stout and cone-shaped, with gaps between them bigger than the tooth length, which is typical for insect-eaters.2
The fossil was found in the Cañadón Asfalto Formation, which has also yielded other pterosaurs, showing that Gondwana had a rich pterosaur fauna in the Early Jurassic.2
Most asked questions about Melkamter
?How big was Melkamter?
Its preserved skull is 131.3 millimetres (5.17 inches) long, so it was a small pterosaur, about the size of a crow.1
?What did Melkamter eat?
It probably ate insects. Its teeth were short, stout and cone-shaped, with gaps between them bigger than the tooth length, which is typical for insect-eaters.2
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Melkamter
- Named by
- Fernandes et al. 20244
- Group
- Flying reptiles
- Family / clade
- Monofenestrata4
- Classification
- Pterosauria4
- Age of the rocks
- 183 to 175 million years (Toarcian)4
- Rock formations
- Cañadón Asfalto4
- Countries
- Argentina4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Melkamter was named in 2024 by Fernandes, Pol and Rauhut based on a partial skull and other bones found at the Queso Rallado site in Argentina.24
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether Melkamter was fully a pterodactyloid or a more primitive monofenestratan, because it has a mix of old and new features.2
Where the facts come from
- Melkamter (en.wikipedia.org)
- The oldest monofenestratan pterosaur from the Queso Rallado locality (Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Toarcian) of Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Melkamter pateko | Pterosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
- Melkamter in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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