Dino card No. 1199 of 2,027

Moganopterus

Say it: moh-gan-OP-ter-us

Name means: “sword couple wing, after the legendary Chinese swords Gan Jiang and Mo Ye”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Moganopterus was a huge flying reptile with a long, blade-like beak full of sharp teeth. It soared over ancient lakes in China about 125 million years ago, snatching fish from the water.1 3

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

Lived

126 to 120 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Xiaosanjiazi Village, Lamadong, Liaoning Province, China1 3

Food

Fish3 1

Wingspan

3.5 to 7 m1 2

scientists disagree; early estimate was about 7 m, but a 2022 study reduced it to about 3.5 m

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

wings as wide as 4 bicycles in a row

How big was Moganopterus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Moganopterus had the largest skull of any toothed pterosaur ever found, measuring about 95 centimeters (3.12 feet) long.1

Its jaws were very long and straight, like blades, and held about 62 to 64 teeth.1

A 2022 study found that Moganopterus had about 100 slender teeth, more than first thought.2

The back of its skull had a long, narrow crest that pointed up and backward at a 15-degree angle.1 2

Moganopterus is the largest known member of the pterosaur group called Ctenochasmatidae.1 2

Its fossils were found in the Yixian Formation, which is famous for preserving many feathered dinosaurs and early birds.1

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

?How big was Moganopterus?

Moganopterus was a large pterosaur. Its skull was about 95 centimeters long, and scientists first estimated its wingspan at about 7 meters, but a 2022 study reduced that to 3.5 meters.1 2

?What did Moganopterus eat?

Moganopterus had long, pointed teeth and blade-like jaws, so it likely snatched fish from the water, just like other ctenochasmatid pterosaurs.1

?When did Moganopterus live?

Moganopterus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago, in what is now Liaoning Province, China.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Moganopterus was a dinosaur.

Truth: Moganopterus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur.1 3

For dino experts

Scientific name: Moganopterus
Named by: Lü et al. 20123
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Boreopteridae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Rock formations: Yixian3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The fossil was found at Xiaosanjiazi Village in Liaoning, China, and named in 2012 by Lü Junchang and colleagues. The species name honors Ms. Zhu Haifen, who made the specimen available for study.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether Moganopterus belonged to the Boreopteridae or the Ctenochasmatidae family.1 2

Where the facts come from

Moganopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
Reappraisal of the largest ctenochasmatid <i>Moganopterus zhuiana</i> Lü et al., 2012 (vertpala.ac.cn)
Moganopterus 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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