Dino card No. 1080 of 2,027

Longchengpterus

Say it: LONG-cheng-TAIR-us

Name means: “wing from Longcheng, the old name of Chaoyang City in China”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Longchengpterus was a flying reptile that lived about 120 million years ago in what is now China. It had a long, pointed snout and sharp teeth, and it probably ate fish like a modern pelican.1 3

Fun fact: pterosaurs flew over the dinosaurs, but they were their cousins, not dinosaurs themselves.

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Yuanjiawa near Dapingfang, Chaoyang, Liaoning, China1 3

Length

0.262 m (0.9 ft)1

skull length

Wingspan

2 m (6.6 ft)1

Top speed

about 48 km/h (30 mph)

Flying, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 8 toy building bricks in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 7.9 seconds

How big was Longchengpterus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast was it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3 mph)

A kid on a bike about 12 km/h (7 mph)

Longchengpterus about 48 km/h (30 mph)

A galloping horse about 65 km/h (40 mph)

A cheetah about 100 km/h (62 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Longchengpterus was the first istiodactylid pterosaur ever found in China. Before that, all istiodactylids were known only from England.1 2

Its skull was long and narrow, about 262 millimeters (10.3 inches) long, with a big triangular opening that made the skull lighter for flying.1

The lower jaw had 12 teeth, and they were sharp, flattened sideways, and curved slightly inward, perfect for gripping slippery fish.1

Its wingspan was about 2 meters (6.6 feet), which is a little wider than a tall adult human is tall.1

The upper arm bone (humerus) was 88 millimeters (3.5 inches) long and had a low crest for muscle attachment, but no air hole (pneumatic foramen).1

Longchengpterus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago, in the Jiufotang Formation of China.1 3

AI-made picture of Longchengpterus — An AI-made picture of how Longchengpterus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Longchengpterus
Named by: Wang et al. 20063
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Ornithocheiroidea3
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)3
Rock formations: Jiufotang3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Longchengpterus was named in 2006 by Wang Li, Li Li, Duan Ye, and Cheng Shao-li. The name honors Zhao Dayu, president of Shenyang Normal University. The fossil was found at Yuanjiawa near Dapingfang, China.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how many teeth were in the upper jaw, because the fossil is damaged.1

Where the facts come from

Longchengpterus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new iodactylid pterosaur from western Liaoning (dzhtb.cgs.cn)
Longchengpterus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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