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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pteranodon (/tɪˈrænədɒn/; from Greek πτερόν (pteron, meaning "wing"), ἀν (an, meaning "without"), and ὀδούς (odous or odont, meaning "tooth")) is a genus of pteranodontid pterodactyloid pterosaur discovered in at least two rock formations in North America, which date back to the Santonian and Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, around 86 to 84.5 million years ago. Fossil remains of Pteranodon are currently the most common of all pterosaurs, with more than 1,100 different specimens identified, but even so, many of these lack completeness, and therefore not enough to give researchers very detailed anatomical information. Pteranodon lived throughout the United States, and some specimens were even found in other formations that extended as far north as Canada. During the Late Cretaceous, most of central United States and Canada was covered by a large inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway, this meant that Pteranodon likely lived near the coast, and led to the idea that its diet mainly consisted of fish.
Pteranodon | |
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Mounted replica skeleton of an adult male P. longiceps at the American Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
Family: | †Pteranodontidae |
Subfamily: | †Pteranodontinae Williston, 1892 |
Genus: | †Pteranodon Marsh, 1876 |
Type species | |
†Pteranodon longiceps Marsh, 1876 | |
Other species | |
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Synonyms | |
Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Similar to other pterosaurs of its family, Pteranodon is mostly known for its elongated cranial crest, which projected upward and backward from the skull. In males, the crest is much more elongated than in females, a feature that can be distinguished easily between the two sexes, leading to the idea that Pteranodon was sexually dimorphic. Pteranodon is one of the few pterosaurs that had a uniquely built cranial crest, and paleontologists have concluded that it may have been used for heat exchange, allowing them to absorb or shed heat and regulate their body temperature, which also would account for the correlation between crest size and body size. Unfortunately, no evidence of extra blood vessels in the crests of Pteranodon has been found to prove this purpose.
When Pteranodon was unearthed in 1870, it was, back then, the largest known pterosaur, with wingspan estimates of about 6.25 meters (20.5 ft). Larger wingspan estimates have been done in the past however, and some have reached an impressive 7.25 meters (23.8 ft) based on specimens that were proportionally larger than any other known Pteranodon specimens. Throughout the history of Pteranodon, many species were also formerly assigned to it, e.g. Pteranodon sternbergi and Pteranodon gracilis, which are now thought to have been the genera Geosternbergia and Nyctosaurus. Some fossilized remains of Pteranodon have also been found to contain fish bones in the stomach area, and several fossilized fish bolus have been found between the jaws of another Pteranodon specimen.[1][2]