Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Rhamphorhynchus (/ ˌ r æ m f ə ˈ r ɪ ŋ k ə s /, [1] from Ancient Greek rhamphos meaning "beak" and rhynchus meaning "snout") is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. . Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic soft-tissue tail va
The fossil trackways show that pterosaurs like Hatzegopteryx were quadrupeds, and some rather efficient terrestrial predators. Pterosaurs' hip sockets are oriented facing slightly upwards, and the head of the femur (thigh bone) is only moderately inward facing, suggesting that pterosaurs had an erect stance. It would have been possible to lift ...
Pterodactylus (from Ancient Greek: πτεροδάκτυλος, romanized: pterodáktylos ' winged finger ' [2]) is a genus of extinct pterosaurs.It is thought to contain only a single species, Pterodactylus antiquus, which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying reptile and one of the first prehistoric reptiles to ever be discovered.
Like many pterosaurs and birds, it possessed a notarium, a fused mass comprising the first six dorsal vertebrae. [25] Similarly, the first few ribs were fused. [15] The pelvic bones were fused to the synsacrum, a mass of vertebrae that included at least two dorsal vertebrae, [17] the sacral vertebrae, and the first caudal vertebra. [15]
Avemetatarsalia (meaning "bird metatarsals") is a clade of diapsid reptiles containing all archosaurs more closely related to birds than to crocodilians. [2] The two most successful groups of avemetatarsalians were the dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Ornithocheiridae (or ornithocheirids, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 90 million years ago.
Pteranodon skeleton. A toothless Late Cretaceous pterosaur, it was similar to Pelagornis in size and proportions and possibly in feeding habits.. Unlike the true teeth of Mesozoic stem-birds like Archaeopteryx or Ichthyornis, the pseudoteeth of the pelagornithids do not seem to have had serrated or otherwise specialized cutting edges, and were useful to hold prey for swallowing whole rather ...
Avialae ("bird wings") is a clade containing the only living dinosaurs, the birds, and their closest relatives.It is usually defined as all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds (Aves) than to deinonychosaurs, though alternative definitions are occasionally used (see below).