Dino card No. 1246 of 2,027

Navajodactylus

Say it: nah-VAH-ho-DAK-tih-lus

Name means: “Navajo finger”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Navajodactylus was a flying reptile that soared over what is now New Mexico, USA, about 75 million years ago. It had a wingspan as wide as a small car and probably snatched fish from ancient rivers.1 3

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

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

New Mexico, USA, and possibly Alberta, Canada1 2

Food

Fish3

Wingspan

3.5 m1

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 2 bicycles in a row

How big was Navajodactylus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Navajodactylus is known from only a few wing bones, including a piece of the first wing finger phalanx.1

Its name honors the Navajo Nation, combining 'Navajo' with the Greek word for finger, 'daktylos'.1

The holotype fossil was discovered by oceanographer Arjan C. Boeré in 2002.1

Scientists are not sure if Navajodactylus belongs to the azhdarchid family, because its wing bones lack air spaces that azhdarchids usually have.1

Navajodactylus lived about 75 million years ago, during the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1 2

Some fossils from Alberta, Canada were once thought to be Navajodactylus, but later scientists assigned them to a different pterosaur called Cryodrakon.1

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

?How big was Navajodactylus?

It was a medium sized pterosaur with an estimated wingspan of 3.5 metres (11.5 feet), about as wide as a small car.1

?What did Navajodactylus eat?

It probably snatched fish from ancient rivers, like many other pterosaurs.1

?Is Navajodactylus a dinosaur?

No, it is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur.1

?When did Navajodactylus live?

It lived about 75 million years ago, during the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1 2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Navajodactylus
Named by: Sullivan and Fowler 20113
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Azhdarchidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea > Azhdarchidae3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Kirtland3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Navajodactylus was named by Robert M. Sullivan and Denver W. Fowler in 2011, based on a wing bone found by Arjan C. Boeré in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico.1 3
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Navajodactylus is truly an azhdarchid pterosaur, because it lacks the air-filled bones typical of that group.1

Where the facts come from

Navajodactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
Sullivan and Fowler, 2011 -Navajodactylus, 1st pterosaur material from New Mexico (denverfowler.com)
Navajodactylus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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