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Yelaphomte

Say it: YEL-ah-fom-tee

Name means: “beast of the air”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Yelaphomte was a small flying reptile that lived during the Late Triassic in what is now Argentina. It had a tall, thin crest on its snout and was one of the first pterosaurs found in the southern half of the world.1 2

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

Lived

227 to 206 million years ago3

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Quebrada del Puma locality, Quebrada del Barro Formation, San Juan Province, Argentina1 3

Food

Fish3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Yelaphomte is one of the only known Triassic pterosaurs from the southern hemisphere, along with its relative Pachagnathus.1 2

Its snout was full of air spaces, making it lightweight for flying. The name Yelaphomte means 'beast of the air' in the language of the Huarpe people.1

The only known fossil is a piece of the snout only 15.4 mm long, including parts of the upper jaw and palate.1

Yelaphomte lived far from the sea, in a dry inland environment, unlike many other early pterosaurs that lived near coasts.1

The crest on its snout had a unique pattern of grooves that is not seen in any other pterosaur.1

Scientists think Yelaphomte may have been a small adult, because the bones in its snout were tightly fused together, which often happens when an animal is fully grown.1

AI-made picture of Yelaphomte — An AI-made picture of how Yelaphomte 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: Yelaphomte
Named by: Martínez et al. 20223
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Raeticodactylidae3
Classification: Pterosauria3
Age of the rocks: 227 to 206 million years (Norian)3
Rock formations: Quebrada del Barro3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Yelaphomte was discovered by a team led by Ricardo Martínez between 2012 and 2014 in Argentina. It was named and described in 2022 by Martínez, Andres, Apaldetti, and Cerda.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Yelaphomte grew, because only a small piece of its snout has been found.1

Where the facts come from

Yelaphomte (en.wikipedia.org)
The dawn of the flying reptiles: first Triassic record in the southern hemisphere (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
Yelaphomte 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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