Dino card No. 1187 of 2,027

Mimodactylus

Say it: MY-mo-DAK-til-us

Name means: “MIM Museum finger”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Mimodactylus was a small pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived about 95 million years ago. It had long wings and cone-shaped teeth, and it probably snapped up shrimp and other crustaceans from the ocean surface.2

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

Lived

100 to 94 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Hjoûla, near Beirut, Lebanon2 3

Food

Fish2

Wingspan

1.32 m2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2.5 house cats nose to tail

How big was Mimodactylus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Mimodactylus is the most complete pterosaur ever found from the Afro-Arabian continent, which includes Africa and Arabia.2

Its wingspan was about 1.32 meters (4.3 feet), which is about as wide as a tall adult human's arm span.2

It had 11 cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw and 10 in the lower jaw, all on the front half of its mouth.2

Mimodactylus lived in a warm sea with many islands, far from any large continent.2

Scientists think it flew like an albatross, gliding low over the water to snatch food.2

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

?What did Mimodactylus eat?

Mimodactylus probably ate shrimp and other crustaceans from the ocean surface. It may also have eaten insects, but scientists think crustaceans were its main food.2 1

?How big was Mimodactylus?

Mimodactylus was small, with a wingspan of about 1.32 meters (4.3 feet), which is about as wide as a tall adult human's arm span. The skull was only about 99 mm (3.9 inches) long.1 2

?Is Mimodactylus a dinosaur?

No, Mimodactylus is not a dinosaur. It is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived at the same time as dinosaurs.1

?When did Mimodactylus live?

Mimodactylus lived about 95 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Mimodactylus
Named by: Kellner et al. 20193
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Mimodactylidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)3
Rock formations: Sannine Limestone3
Countries: Lebanon3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The only known skeleton was found in the Hjoûla Lagerstätte in Lebanon, a famous fossil site for fish and invertebrates. It was bought by an anonymous donor and given to the MIM Museum in Beirut. In 2019, a team led by Alexander Kellner named it Mimodactylus libanensis.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Mimodactylus ate insects or crustaceans, but most evidence points to crustaceans.2

Where the facts come from

Mimodactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
First complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent: insight into pterodactyloid diversity | Scientific Reports (nature.com)
Mimodactylus 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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