Rhamphorhynchus
Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
Its fossils provide rare insight into the flight anatomy and diet of Jurassic pterosaurs.
Image: M0tty · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
- Period
- Late Jurassic (Tithonian)
- Lived
- 150–148 Ma (150 million years ago)
- Diet
- Piscivore
- Habitat
- Coast, Airborne
- Length (estimate)
- 0.5 m
Description
Rhamphorhynchus was a long-tailed pterosaur with narrow wings, a pointed snout and outward-projecting teeth. Its tail ended in a diamond-shaped skin vane that may have acted as a rudder. Fossils with fish remains near the stomach support a fish-rich diet but reveal little about the exact method of capture. The exceptionally fine Solnhofen deposits sometimes preserve wing membranes and other soft tissues.
Habitat
Lagoons and coastal waters of the Solnhofen archipelago.
Fossil sites
Solnhofen, Bavaria
Solnhofen Limestone
Cultural profile: Germany →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Rhamphorhynchus