Hatzegopteryx

Hatzegopteryx thambema

  • Romania

Hatzegopteryx was a huge short-tailed pterosaurs ( Pterodactyloidea ) from the European Upper Cretaceous. Only species described is Hatzegopteryx thambema.

The fossils of the pterosaur were found in 1978 by Dan Grigorescu in Haţeg Basin in the Densu - Ciula Formation in the north-western Romania and initially thought to be the remains of a theropod dinosaur. It was not until the late 1990s it was realized at small boned, that it was a pterodactyl. Hatzegopteryx lived at the end of the Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ).

Description and life

Fragments of the skull and of the proximal ( proximal ) portion of the upper arm bone ( humerus) were found. From the estimated length ( about 550 mm ) and the diameter (90 mm) of the part obtained can be estimated a wingspan of 12 meters. This Hatzegopteryx would be one of the largest flying animals of the earth's history. The considered as the largest pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus from the Upper Cretaceous of Texas ( USA) had a similar span of about 11 to 13 meters. The skull probably reached a length of about three meters and would thus be the largest known skull of a non-marine vertebrate. At that size, the entire animal weighed probably not more than 100 kg.

Origin of the name

The genus name was derived from Haţeg, the name of the locality, and pteryx, Greek for wing composed. The Artepiton thambena comes from the Greek and playing on the monstrous size of this pterosaur ( the monstrous size of Pterosauriers ) to.

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