Dino card No. 1769 of 2,027

Tendaguripterus

Say it: ten-DAG-ur-IP-ter-us

Name means: “Tendaguru wing”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Tendaguripterus was a flying reptile that lived about 150 million years ago. It had a short, deep lower jaw with strong teeth, and it probably used them to crunch up hard-shelled animals like clams.1

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

Lived

152 to 149 million years ago3

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Tendaguru Formation in southeastern Tanzania1 3

Food

Fish1 3

Wingspan

1 m1

estimated based on a similar pterosaur, Germanodactylus

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tail

How big was Tendaguripterus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Tendaguripterus is known from only a single piece of lower jaw, which was discovered in Tanzania during a German expedition between 1910 and 1912.1

The lower jaw of Tendaguripterus is short, robust, and tall, and it becomes more than one and a half times taller towards the back, giving it a very deep shape.1

Its tooth row looks bumpy, and its teeth stick out strongly from the jaw.1

Tendaguripterus lived alongside famous dinosaurs like Giraffatitan and Kentrosaurus in the Tendaguru Formation.1

The name Tendaguripterus honors Hans Reck, the first person to describe pterosaurs from Tendaguru.1 2

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

?How big was Tendaguripterus?

Its wingspan was about 1 meter (3.3 feet) wide, and its skull was around 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long.1

?What did Tendaguripterus eat?

It probably ate hard-shelled animals like clams and other invertebrates, using its strong teeth to crunch them up.1

?Is Tendaguripterus a dinosaur?

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

?Where was Tendaguripterus found?

Its only fossil, a lower jaw, was discovered in the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania, Africa.1

Ask Rex about Tendaguripterus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Tendaguripterus
Named by: Unwin and Heinrich 19993
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Tendaguripteridae3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 152 to 149 million years (Kimmeridgian)3
Rock formations: Tendaguru3
Countries: Tanzania3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The only specimen, a lower jaw, was collected between 1910 and 1912 by a German expedition to Tendaguru in Tanzania. It was described as a new genus and species in 1999 by David Unwin and Wolf-Dieter Heinrich.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure how Tendaguripterus is related to other pterosaurs. It was first thought to be a type of dsungaripteroid, but later it was placed in its own family, Tendaguripteridae, and its exact position is still unknown.1

Where the facts come from

Tendaguripterus - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
On a pterosaur jaw from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania) (fr.copernicus.org)
Tendaguripterus 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.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex