🪁Pterosaurs

Flying reptiles

Archosauria › Avemetatarsalia › Pterosauria

🚫 Not dinosaurs

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, but they were not dinosaurs. Their wings were made of skin held up by one very long finger. Some were as small as a sparrow, and some were as tall as a giraffe!

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, appearing in the Late Triassic more than 220 million years ago and dying out in the end-Cretaceous extinction. They are close cousins of dinosaurs, sharing a common ancestor within the bird-line archosaurs, but they lack the hip and leg features that define Dinosauria. Each wing was a membrane supported mainly by a hugely lengthened fourth finger, and fossils show the body was covered in fine filaments called pycnofibres. Early forms such as Rhamphorhynchus had long tails, while later pterodactyloids such as Pteranodon and the azhdarchid Quetzalcoatlus had short tails, and Quetzalcoatlus reached a wingspan of about 10–11 metres.