Quetzalcoatlus Wing Lizards More than sixty-five million years ago huge flying reptiles with nearly 40-foot wingspans flew in the skies over what is now southern Texas Like living sailplanes they soared on narrow skin covered wings circling on rising air currents much as eagles and
vultures do today Scientists have given these ancient animals the name Quetzalcoatlus after Quetzalcoatl the winged serpent god of the Aztecs They are the biggest living creatures creatures ever known to fly Quetzalcoatlus belongs to a large and diverse group of flying reptiles called pterosaurs a name that comes from Greek words meaning wing lizards The p in the word ptero is not pronounced Ranging in size from that of a sparrow to that of a small fighter jet pterosaurs lived throughout the prehistoric world Some of them flew over oceans and lakes scooping up fish from the surface of the water in their long-toothed beaks Others lived on land feeding on insects and other food able to grasp objects with the three clawed fingers at the edge of each of their wings More than a hundred species of these ancient reptiles are known to have existed and the list is growing as scientists continue to unearth pterosaur fossils in Brazil China Antarctica and elsewhere elsewhere Recent discoveries have revealed new information about pterosaurs and are helping to answer questions about what the world was like when these amazing flying reptiles were alive
The Age of Reptiles Pterosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era a time when Earth’s climate was warmer than it is today the seasons were mild and there was no ice at the poles Scientists divide this era into three periods the Triassic about 250 208 million years ago the Jurassic about 208 144 million years ago and the Cretaceous about 144 65 million years ago The first pterosaurs appeared in the Triassic period about the same time as the first dinosaurs and the first mammals and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous The Mesozoic Era is sometimes called the Age of Reptiles because these animals were the dominant life form on Earth then Dinosaurs walked on the land huge sea reptiles swam in the oceans and pterosaurs ruled the skies Pterosaurs are closely related to dinosaurs and had a common ancestor Like all other reptiles except turtles pterosaurs and dinosaurs share certain skeletal features including two holes in the upper part of the skull and two holes behind the eyes One of the oldest known pterosaurs is Eudimorphodon whose name means true two-form tooth Its fossil bones which were first discovered in northern Italy in 1973 are about 215 million years old Eudimorphodon had a wingspan of about 3.3 feet and an unusual arrangement of teeth in its jaws At the front were several large fangs and along the sides were rows of smaller teeth with two more fangs in the middle Such teeth would have been good for catching and holding fish Skeletons have been found with fossils of scales in the area of the stomach indicating that fish were part of this pterosaur’s diet
