Early Cretaceous Pterosaurs
The Early Cretaceous Period started about 136 million years ago when there was a dramatic change in the types of species of pterosaurs. Very few pterosaurs made the transition from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous and a distinct new range of larger pterosaurs evolves at this time. The main stages in the United Kingdom are as follows.
There are a vast number of specimens of pterosaur bone from the Cambridge Greensand, mainly of Ornithocheirid species. Some specimens are of very large pterosaurs, but they are fragmentary. The Cambridge Greensand is a derived sediment and it is likely that most of the pterosaur fossils come from a slightly earlier age. The Purbeck beds have also yielded some pterosaur remains.
There are a great number of pterosaurs worldwide attributed to this time from a number of very good sites. The Santana formation in Brazil, The sites in Xinjiang Province, China and Western Mongolia to name but three.
The position of the continents about 120ma ago
Anhangueridae
Anhanguera santanae |
Anhanguera blittersdorffi |
Anhanguera winchii |
Anhanguera sp - Argentina |
Anhanguera sp - Australia |
Anhanguera fittoni |
Maaradactylus kellneri |
Azhdarchidae
Cearadactylidae
Cearadactylus atrox |
Ctenochasmidae
Beipioapterus chenianus |
Liaoxipterus brachyognathus |
Ctenochasmid species - Chile |
Cathayopterus grabaui |
Elanodactylus prolatus |
Gegepterus changi |
Gladocephaloideus jingangshanensis |
Dsungaripteridae
Istiodactylidae
Istiodactylus latidens |
Istiodactylus sinensis |
Nurhachius ignaciobritoi |
Longchengpterus zhaoi |
Hongshanopterus lacustris |
Ornithocheiridae
Pteranodontidae
Ikrandraco avatar |
Pterodactylidae
Haopterus gracilis |
Mythunga camara |
Hamipterus tianshanensis |
Pterodaustridae
Pterodaustro guinazui |
Pterodaustro sp. - Antifagasta |
Pterodaustro sp. - Egg |
Tapejaridae
Caiuajara dobruskii |
Sinopterus dongi |
Sinopterus sp.- South Korea |
Sinopterus gui |
Tupandactylus imperator |
Tupandactylus navigens |
Tapejara wellnhoferi |
Huaxiapterus jii |
Huaxiapterus corollatus |
Unclassified Pterosaurs
Arthurdactylus conandoylei |
Thalassodromeus sethi |
Pterosaur sp. - Egg |
Prejanopterus curvirostra |
Ichnites
Purbeckopus pentadactylus |
Pteraichnus species - China |
Pteraichnus cidacoi |
Pteraichnus vetustior |
Pteraichnus manueli |
Pteraichnus parvus |
Pteraichnus koreanensis |
Pteraichnus nipponensis |