🪽 PterosaursCretaceousIconic
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus northropi
Quetzalcoatlus was among the largest known flying animals and broadens the picture of pterosaurs as both walkers and flyers.
Image: Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Loading map textures; the previous reconstruction stays visible...
Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Quetzalcoatlus northropi
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)
- Lived
- 70–66 Ma (70 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Airborne, Plains
Description
Quetzalcoatlus was an azhdarchid pterosaur with an extremely long neck, a long beak and enormous wings. Wingspan estimates are around ten metres but are based on limited bone remains. It may have walked on land and taken small vertebrates or other prey; its precise diet remains disputed. Pterosaurs were flying reptiles, not dinosaurs.
Habitat
Inland river and coastal plains of North America.
Fossil sites
Big Bend region, Texas
Javelina Formation
Cultural profile: United States →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Quetzalcoatlus