Azhdarchidae

Azhdarchidae is a family of pterosaurs known mostly from the Late Cretaceous. Azhdarchids include the largest flying animals discovered, but smaller cat-size members have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the Azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs Azhdarcho, Quetzalcoatlus, and Titanopteryx. They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. Previously it was thought that by the end of the Cretaceous, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappeared from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth of other pterosaurian fauna based on several pteranodontian fossils from the latest Cretaceous period.

Azhdarchidae

Mark Witton · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AzhdarchoideaPBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Pterosauria
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Pterosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pterosauria

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 145.06 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 149.2 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 1 of 98 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 10 of 98 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 87 of 98 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 98 occurrences151–148 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences148–145 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences145–142 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences142–139 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences139–136 Mya — about 1 occurrence122–119 Mya — about 2 occurrences119–116 Mya — about 1 occurrence116–113 Mya — about 1 occurrence113–110 Mya — about 2 occurrences110–108 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences108–105 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences105–102 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences102–99 Mya — about 3 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 4 occurrences96–93 Mya — about 4 occurrences93–90 Mya — about 4 occurrences90–87 Mya — about 2 occurrences87–85 Mya — about 4 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 7 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 8 occurrences79–76 Mya — about 8 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 8 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 13 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 16 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 7 occurrences145.06 Mya72.2 Mya151 Mya64 Mya

98 occurrences of Azhdarchidae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

98 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

49 formations

Javelina — 29.40°N, 103.20°WJavelina — 29.25°N, 103.25°WJavelina — 29.29°N, 103.53°WCouche III — 32.88°N, 6.62°WCouche III — 32.83°N, 6.23°WTwo Medicine — 47.77°N, 112.29°WTwo Medicine — 48.63°N, 113.75°WTwo Medicine — 48.07°N, 113.00°WZhirkindek — 46.22°N, 64.15°EDensuș-Ciula — 45.62°N, 22.78°ERybushka — 52.47°N, 44.93°ERybushka — 51.24°N, 44.99°EJiufotang — 41.57°N, 120.44°EJiufotang — 41.42°N, 120.18°EJiufotang — 41.57°N, 120.16°EPhosphorite Unit — 32.02°N, 36.03°EVitoria — 42.66°N, 2.63°WCsehbánya — 47.22°N, 17.60°EYalovach — 40.49°N, 69.70°EGrès à Reptiles — 43.35°N, 2.95°EHudspeth — 43.27°N, 120.14°WHudspeth — 44.60°N, 120.17°WKhodzhakul — 42.33°N, 60.17°EKhodzhakul — 40.10°N, 65.80°EBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°EBissekty — 41.29°N, 61.50°EDinosaur Park — 50.82°N, 111.57°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.52°WBaynshire — 43.50°N, 107.76°EBaynshire — 44.34°N, 109.86°EKirtland — 36.16°N, 107.93°WSebeş — 45.98°N, 23.57°EMarnes d'Auzas — 43.08°N, 1.20°EJudith River — 46.47°N, 109.30°WBostobe — 45.95°N, 64.65°ETangshang — 28.75°N, 121.58°EMishash — 30.67°N, 35.08°E

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The named rock units Azhdarchidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Azhdarchidae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Azhdarchidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

589 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 90 sites for Azhdarchidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

69 references

Each of the 98 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 57 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Azhdarchidae

Credit
Mark Witton
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Azhdarchidae indet. · wam:60.57

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAzhdarchoidea through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Nessov 1984)