Huanhepterus

Huanhepterus was first discovered in May 1978 when a rock quarry explosion exposed a vertebra. The blast destroyed the right half of the fossil.21

It had about 26 pairs of teeth in the upper jaw and 25 in the lower jaw. The teeth were slender, sharp, and curved, and they became shorter toward the back of the mouth.21

Huanhepterus is very similar to Gnathosaurus, a pterosaur from the Late Jurassic of Europe. This helped scientists figure out that the rocks where Huanhepterus was found might be from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.21

The crest on its skull was higher and thicker at the front of the snout and became lower and thinner toward the eyes, where it disappeared.21

Unlike some other pterosaurs, Huanhepterus did not have a fused notarium (a structure made of fused back vertebrae). Its neck vertebrae were long and slender.21