October unleashed. Huanhepterus

    The type specimen of Huanhepterus was discovered when it was exposed after a quarry side was blasted by explosives. Unfortunately this blast also destroyed the right hand side of the specimen. Huanhepterus was placed within the Ctenochasmatoidea because of the large number of slender teeth, and for this reason Huanhepterus has been presumed to be a filter feeder.

October unleashed. Preondactylus

  Preondactylus is another contender for earliest pterosaur although new discoveries are constantly challenging this.‭ ‬One feature that confirms the basal placement of Preondactylus is the short wings, since as pterosaurs evolved the wings became proportionately larger.‭ ‬The hind legs are also very long in relation to the total body length.
       The diet of Preondactylus has been difficult to determine with certainty with most researchers sitting on the fence between piscivore and insectivore.‭ ‬While Preondactylus does seem to be associated with a marine environment,‭ ‬it does not mean that one should just come to the conclusion that Preondactylus was a fish eater.
       The name Preondactylus comes from the Preone region of Italy where is was discovered,‭ ‬and combined the Greek‭ '‬dactylus‭' ‬or‭ '‬finger‭'‬,‭ ‬in reference to the wing construction.‭ ‬The holotype specimen suffered a lot of damage when it was recovered however when the slab it was on broke apart during extraction.‭ ‬Also when cleaned,‭ ‬much of the specimen was washed away leaving just an impression in the stone.‭ ‬This was not a total disaster however as a very simple method of employed to reveal Preondactylus.‭ ‬Silicone was poured into the impression and allowed to set.‭ ‬Once solid,‭ ‬the researchers just had to pull the moulding off and the bones of Preondactylus were revealed once again.‭
       The most exciting discovery that may possibly represent another specimen of Preondactylus is a disarticulated mass of bones.‭ ‬Although it might not sound like much to get excited about,‭ ‬this mass of bones is actually a gastric pellet from a the predatory fish Saurichthys.‭ ‬Many fish cannot digest or excrete bone,‭ ‬so once the flesh has been digested the bones and other indigestible material is regurgitated in the form of a pellet,‭ ‬like how an owl will eat mice,‭ ‬but bring up the fur and bones in the form of a pellet.‭ ‬Unfortunately no one can say for certain if these remains really are attributable to Preondactylus as the only thing that can be said about this specimen is that it comes from roughly the same area as the holotype specimen.‭ ‬However the presence of this pellet does at least prove that while pterosaurs often fed upon fish,‭ ‬it sometimes worked the other way around.

October unleashed. Plataleorhynchus

 Plataleorhynchus got its name from its specialised jaws that expand at the tips to form a spoon shape. By adopting this shape, the jaws could process a larger area as Plataleorhynchus sifted through mud and wet sand to find invertebrates to eat. However the presence of smaller teeth and hard horn covered palate has brought forth the suggestion that Plataleorhynchus may have searched for invertebrate prey in shallow water, where a larger jaw area would also be a benefit.

October unleashed. Prejanopterus

 Not many pterosaurs are known from Spain, but Prejanopterus is so far one of the better preserved specimens. The interesting thing about the Prejanopterus is that although the bottom jaw is straight, the upper jaw curves upwards and away from the bottom jaw. This is not considered a distortion of the jaw as a product of the preservation process as all known specimens of Prejanopterus display this curvature.
       The curved upper jaw of Prejanopterus has caused some confusion amongst palaeontologists as to how Prejanopterus could eat, especially when Prejanopterus is usually depicted as a fish eater. However another pterosaur named Dsungaripterus had a similar curvature to its jaws, and it is thought that the curvature in Dsungaripterus existed as a tool so that Dsungaripterus could dig out invertebratres from the sand and mud. We can not say at his time if this was also the case for Prejanopterus, but it is at least a possibility.

October unleashed. Phosphatodraco

  Five neck vertebrae may not be much to go on when describing a pterosaur,‭ ‬but the elongated vertebra of Phosphatodraco are a signature feature of the azdarchid group of pterosaurs.‭ ‬The vertebra of Phosphatodraco are also quite unique in themselves by being elongated at the base as well as higher up and also revealing the presence of neural spines.‭ ‬These caudal vertebrae have been speculated to have been modified dorsal vertebra from the back,‭ ‬and would have served to extend the characteristically long azdarchid neck even further.‭ ‬This would have allowed Phosphatodraco to move its head over a larger area while hunting without the need for re-positioning its body so often.

October unleashed. Istiodactylus

   Istiodactylus had actually been known to science since 1913 except it was known as Ornithodesmus until it was realised that some of the remains associated to it belonged to a theropod dinosaur. With this realisation the known remains were renamed Istiodactylus.
       Istiodactylus had quite a unique beak that was rounded at the end leading some to refer to it as a 'duck billed' pterosaur. This analogy aside, the teeth inside the beak laterally compressed, small and fitted close together towards the front, meaning that Istiodactylus would have had an easy time slicing flesh.
       Another specimen is thought to hail from China and is named Istiodactylus sinesis. However its validity was disputed not long after it was named in 2006, and it has since been considered to be a junior synonym of the pterosaur Nurhachius. This would make Istiodactylus known only from the British Isles.

October unleashed. Jidapterus

 Jidapterus has had an uncertain phylogenetic history with researchers either not knowing or not agreeing on where to place it. Most now agree that Jidapterus belongs with the azhdarchid pterosaurs within the chaoyangopteridae because of its similarities to Chaoyangopterus which was described in the same year as Jidapterus.