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Quetzalcoatlus (/ k ɛ t s əl k oʊ ˈ æ t l ə s /) is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in North America. The type specimen, recovered in 1971 from the Javelina Formation of Texas, United States, consists of several wing fragments and was described as Quetzalcoatlus northropi in 1975 by Douglas Lawson.
On the Wing is a 1986 IMAX film featuring a half-sized robotic Quetzalcoatlus that demonstrates principles of animal flight. Produced by the National Air and Space Museum, it also traces the early history of human flight. [1] The film is narrated by F. Murray Abraham.
Exotic HD cameras were rare at the time, which made reaching some of the filming locations for When Dinosaurs Roamed America (which include various parts of Argentina, Tasmania, and Florida) difficult, but the portable HD cameras allowed de Lespinois and his small team to capture never-before-seen shots of the various landscapes. [4]
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word azhdar, اژدر, a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). [1]
The most sizeable forms represent the largest known animals ever to fly, with wingspans of up to 10–11 metres (33–36 feet). [22] Standing, such giants could reach the height of a modern giraffe. Traditionally, it was assumed that pterosaurs were extremely light relative to their size.
Azhdarchoidea (/æʒdɑːrˈkɔɪdɪːə/, meaning "azhdarchid-like forms") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, Tendaguripterus, that lived in the Late Jurassic period.
Well-known examples of pterodactyloids include Pterodactylus, Pteranodon, and Quetzalcoatlus. In 2014, fossils from the Shishugou Formation of China were classified as the most basal pterodactyloid yet found, Kryptodrakon. At a minimum age of about 161 my, it is about 5 million years older than the oldest previously known confirmed specimens. [4]
Lawson began his synecological research during his master's degree studying the paleoecology of the Tornillo Formation in Big Bend National Park, Texas.During his study of this Late Cretaceous intermontane basin community, he discovered the fossil remains of the giant pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus Northropi, which he named in honor of John K. Northrop because of its similarity to Northrop's flying ...