STL Science Center

STL Science Center

09 March 2012

Cearadactylus: A "Normal Looking" Pterosaur

©Smokeybjb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Smokeybjb
After careful deliberation I decided that I would go with a more "normal looking" pterosaur this week during Flying Reptile Month. Cearadactylus is actually quite average looking by all appearances. We do not tend to expect large tails on the larger pterosaurs, so the lack of one on Cearadactylus flailing along behind the animal is less of a shock than it was on Anurognathus. Discovered in 1985, Cearadactylus is only non-average looking in the front of its rather long skull where it houses some fierce looking teeth. Those teeth gave it its name when it was taken from Brazilian stone Cearadactylus atrox meaning Ceara's (a state in Brazil) finger (a reference to the "wing finger" of pterosaurs) frightful, in literal word for word translation. That would make it "Ceara's frightful finger" if we made it into a phrase, which is pretty fantastical sounding. This ought to be a fairly good week for entries as this seems to be a fairly well rounded and known pterosaur!

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