#pterodactyloids

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2025 Day 22

Pterosaur Mythunga camara, of Early Cretaceous, Australia!

Mythunga camara was a pterosaur from Early Cretaceous Australia. This enigmatic pterosaur is known only from corresponding parts of the middle upper and lower jaw, however, for a long time it was the most completely known pterosaur in Australia (that spot has now been taken by the also fragmentary Ferrodraco). Unfortunately, Australia seemed to not have very good conditions for fossilizing pterosaurs, and of the around 20 pterosaur fossils known from the continent, all of them are simple teeth and bone fragments. Still, from Mythunga’s teeth and jaw fragments, it can be analyzed as an Anhanguerid, with some paleontologists even putting it in the subfamily Tropeognathinae. It is most closely related to the Late Cretaceous Ferrodraco, and likely behaved similar to other Anhanguerids, feeding on fish and squids, and soaring great distances over the ocean.

Mythunga camara was found in the Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia. Other pterosaurs (fragmentary, of course) found in this formation include the targaryendraconid Aussiedraco, the ornithocheiriform Thapunngaka, and fellow anhangeurid (and far more completely known) Haliskia. Mythunga would have lived alongside dinosaurs as well, including the ankylosaurian Kunbarrasaurus, the iguanodontian Muttaburrasaurus, and the avialan Nanantius. As Mythunga likely spent a great deal of time flying over the ocean, it also may have encountered plesiosaurs such as the pliosaur Kronosaurus and the elasmosaurid Eromangasaurus, icthyosaurs like Platypterygius australis, and sea turtles like Bouliachelys, Cratochelone, and Notochelone.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 8 - Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis

Azhdarchids are known as the largest flying animals of all time, the last great stand of the pterosaurs before . They contained mighty giants like Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, who ruled the skies of the Late Cretaceous. But not all azhdarchids were flying carnivorous giraffes. Some of them were downright tiny, while others reached a more modest, respectable size. Slightly larger than a female Pteranodon, Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis was one such “moderately large” azhdarchid.

Zhejiangopterus lived in Late Cretaceous China and is so far the most complete azhdarchid known, making it very influential to our understanding of this amazing family of pterosaurs. As several specimens have been uncovered, it was probably fairly common in the Tangshang Formation. It lacked the bony crest seen in many of their relatives, instead opting for a long, straight, graceful profile. Like other azhdarchids, Zhejiangopterus were likely terrestrial stalkers similar to storks and ground hornbills, only using their wings to escape predators or move to new hunting grounds.

Not many other animals have been found in the Tangshang Formation. Alongside Zhejiangopterus, there is only the avialan Yandangornis (whose eggs and chicks and perhaps even adults, if they could catch them, could have been prey for the pterosaur) and an unnamed therizinosauroid. However, living in Late Cretaceous China, it could have also come across the titanosaur Dongyangosaurus further South, and further inland: the ankylosaur Gobisaurus, the pachycephalosaurid Sinocephale, the ornithomimid Sinornithomimus, the carcharodontosaurid Shaochilong, and the mysterious theropod Chilantaisaurus. No doubt there were also plenty of lizards, snakes, mammals, amphibians, and small dinosaurs hiding in the coastal grasses, ready to be nabbed by the dragon of Zhejiang.

[fishsfailureson]

Day 16- Nyctosaurus

Prompts

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 28 - Tapejara wellnhoferi

The Tapejarids were Cretaceous pterodactyloids famous for their impressive crests. I’ve drawn a handful of various tapejarids over the years, I figured it was finally time for the type species of the family: Tapejara wellnhoferi.

Smaller than their close relatives, Tupandactylus, Tapejara was still a mid-sized pterosaur. It had a bony semi-circular crest over the snout and a bony prong that extended back behind the head, which could have supported a number of different soft tissue crest shapes. Unlike the Tupandactylus species, Tapejara fossils did not preserve signs of a keratinous crest. Study on Tapejara’s scleral rings have shown that these pterosaurs may have been cathameral (active at irregular periods during both day and night, whenever resources are available). There were a variety of pterosaurs in Early Cretaceous Brazil, filling both land predator and fish-eating niches. Tapejara could have filled a different niche as an omnivore or full herbivore.

Like most of Cretaceous Brazil, the Romualdo Formation was a hotspot for pterosaurs. Tapejara wellnhoferi would have lived alongside many species of Anhanguera as well as other anhanguerids like Maaradactylus, Cearadactylus, and Tropeognathus. There were also ornithocheirids like Araripesaurus and Brasileodactylus, and targaryendraconids like Barbosania. It wasn’t the only pterosaur with an impressive crest either, as it would have also shared the environment with other tapejarids like Thalassodromeus, Kariridraco, and Tupuxuara. While pterosaurs dominated the landscape, there were also dinosaurs here, such as the spinosaurid Irritator, the compsognathid Mirischia, and other indeterminate theropods like Aratasaurus and Santanaraptor. There were even some pseudosuchians here, including an Araripesuchus species, Araripesuchus gomesii.

[saritawolff]

Archovember Day 18: Moganopterus zhuiana

Moganopterus is a ctenochasmatid pterosaur from Early Cretaceous China. It is only known from a skull and some neck vertebrae, but this is enough to see that it was a pretty strange-looking creature. The skull was 3.12 feet long: the longest known of any toothed pterosaur. By estimating from the size of the skull and neck and comparing Moganopterus to relatives, we can estimate a wingspan of around 23 feet!

[saritawolff]

Archovember Day 15: Anhanguera piscator

Anhanguera pisator is a pterodactyloid pterosaur from Early Cretaceous Brazil (lots of Brazilian pterosaurs this year, huh? I swear I did not plan that.)

A. piscator was a fish-eater with a wingspan of around 15 feet, and would have been the size of a medium dog when on all fours. It had a big gnarly spoonbill like other ornithocheiroids, however its jaws were more slender than its relatives.

There are at least two species of Anhanguera, and while A. blittersdorfi is the type species, I chose A. piscator as we have a nearly complete skeleton of it.

[saritawolff]

Archovember Day 11: Caiuajara dobruskii

Another large-crested tapejarid from Brazil, Caiuajara dobruskii comes from the Late Cretaceous. Males had an estimated wingspan of around 7.7 feet, and on all fours would have been about as big as a medium-sized dog.

Caiuajara lived among the sandy dunes of a large desert. A massive bonebed of Caiuajara fossils (47 animals in all) were found in a prehistoric lake over several layers, indicating that this was an oasis where Caiuajara would gather, or a stop along a migration route. It is unknown what Caiujara would have eaten, as no plants or invertebrates have been found in conjunction with it. It would have shared this baren desert environment with other pterosaurs like Keresdrakon and lizards like Gueragama.

No adult specimens have been found without Caiujara’s signature “sharkfin” crest, so it is assumed that both males and females had a crest and, like most pterosaurs, it was an indicator of age. Females, however, were about half the size of males.