Dino card No. 1519 of 2,027

Qinglongopterus

Say it: ching-LONG-op-TER-us

Name means: “wing from Qinglong”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesMiddle Jurassic to Late JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Qinglongopterus was a small flying reptile that lived about 159 million years ago. It had a long tail and looked a lot like its cousin Rhamphorhynchus, but with a smaller head and shorter wings.1 2

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

Lived

168 to 152 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Mutoudeng, Qinglong County, Hebei Province, China3 1

Food

Fish3

Wingspan

0.344 m1

estimate from the only known specimen, which was a late-stage juvenile

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How big was Qinglongopterus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Qinglongopterus is known from only one nearly complete skeleton, which was found in the Tiaojishan Formation in China.1 2

This pterosaur had a very short pteroid bone (a wrist bone that helps support the wing membrane) with a knob-like tip.2

Qinglongopterus lived about 10 million years before its close relative Rhamphorhynchus, but already had many of the same advanced features.1 2

The only known specimen was a late-stage juvenile, because its bones were not fully fused and its eye sockets were large.1

Scientists think Qinglongopterus and Rhamphorhynchus might be so similar that Rhamphorhynchus could have evolved directly from Qinglongopterus.1

The name Qinglongopterus means 'wing from Qinglong', after the county in China where it was found.1

AI-made picture of Qinglongopterus — An AI-made picture of how Qinglongopterus 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.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Qinglongopterus
Named by: Lü et al. 20123
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Rhamphorhynchidae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Rhamphorhynchidae3
Age of the rocks: 168 to 152 million years (Bathonian / Kimmeridgian)3
Rock formations: Tiaojishan3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Qinglongopterus was named in 2012 by Lü Junchang and colleagues. The only fossil was found in the Tiaojishan Formation of Mutoudeng, Qinglong County, Hebei Province, China.3 1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Qinglongopterus is a direct ancestor of Rhamphorhynchus or just a close relative that lived earlier.1 2

Where the facts come from

Qinglongopterus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new rhamphorhynchid (Pterosauria: Rhamphorhynchidae) from the Middle/ Upper Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China (mapress.com)
Qinglongopterus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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