Dino card No. 1842 of 2,027

Tupandactylus

Say it: too-pan-DAK-tih-lus

Name means: “Tupã finger, after the Tupi thunder god”1

Ate: PlantsFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Tupandactylus was a flying reptile with a huge, colorful crest on its head. It lived in what is now Brazil about 115 million years ago and probably ate plants like a flying fruit-lover.1 2

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

Lived

120 to 113 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Crato Formation, Ceará, Brazil1 2

Wingspan

2.7 to 4 m (8.9 to 13 ft)1

Height

1.5 m (4.9 ft)1

to the tip of its crest

Top speed

about 63 km/h (39 mph)

Flying, estimate

What did Tupandactylus eat?

Tupandactylus probably ate plants, like fruit, and may have used its long neck to reach food from higher bushes. Some fossils show plant material near its skull, hinting it was a herbivore.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How tall was it?

to the tip of its crest

wings as wide as 2 bicycles in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 6 seconds

How big was Tupandactylus compared to YOU?

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

How fast was it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3 mph)

A kid on a bike about 12 km/h (7 mph)

Tupandactylus about 63 km/h (39 mph)

A galloping horse about 65 km/h (40 mph)

A cheetah about 100 km/h (62 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Tupandactylus had a giant head crest made of soft tissue and supported by bone spines. In T. imperator the crest was round, while in T. navigans it was tall and vertical.1

Its name comes from Tupã, the Tupi thunder god, and daktylos, the Greek word for finger.1

Tupandactylus probably spent a lot of time on the ground and only flew short distances, because its big crest made flying harder.1

The first fossil of Tupandactylus was a skull and partial lower jaw found in the Crato Formation of Brazil.1

Scientists think Tupandactylus may have been a terrestrial forager, walking around on the ground to find food.1

Tupandactylus had a fifth toe on its foot with a single bone, a feature seen in some other azhdarchoid pterosaurs.3

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

?How big was Tupandactylus?

Tupandactylus imperator had a wingspan of about 3 to 4 metres (9.8 to 13.1 feet) and stood about 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) tall to the tip of its crest. The smaller species, T. navigans, had a wingspan of about 2.7 metres (8.9 feet).1 4

?Why did Tupandactylus have a crest?

Scientists think the crest was used for social or sexual display, like a peacock's tail. It was made of soft tissue and bone, and it was so big it may have made flying harder.1 4

?What did Tupandactylus eat?

Tupandactylus probably ate plants, like fruit, and may have used its long neck to reach food from higher bushes. Some fossils show plant material near its skull, hinting it was a herbivore.1 4

?Was Tupandactylus a dinosaur?

No, Tupandactylus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur. It is closely related to dinosaurs but belongs to a separate group.1

?When did Tupandactylus live?

Tupandactylus lived about 112 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period, in what is now Brazil.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Tupandactylus was a dinosaur.

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

For dino experts

Scientific name: Tupandactylus
Named by: Kellner and Campos 20075
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Tapejaridae5
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea5
Age of the rocks: 120 to 113 million years (Aptian)5
Rock formations: Crato5
Countries: Brazil5
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Tupandactylus was first described in 1997 as a species of Tapejara by D. A. Campos and Alexander W. A. Kellner. In 2007, Campos and Kellner gave it its own genus name Tupandactylus.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Tupandactylus imperator and Tupandactylus navigans are two different species or just males and females of the same species.1

Where the facts come from

Tupandactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Redescription of Tupandactylus imperator Campos & Keller, 1997 (Pterosauria, Tapejaridae) based on a new complete specimen from the Crato Formation (Aptian-Albian) of the Araripe Basin, Ceará, Brazil (doi.org)
Pterosaur had a head crest so tall it may have made it hard to fly | New Scientist (newscientist.com)
Tupandactylus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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