Cycnorhamphus
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Cycnorhamphus, when first discovered, was first thought to be like pretty much every other pterosaur from late Jurassic Germany - a pretty normal pterosaur, with a long snout filled with small needle-like teeth. This is because, until 2013 the only fossils known were of juveniles. With the discovery of an adult skull, that certainly changed - it's now one of the weirdest pterosaurs. For one, those peg-like teeth are limited to the very front of the jaws. The upper and lower jaws curve away from each other, before meeting again at the very, very front. Soft tissue fills in the resulting gap between the diverging jaws. Nobody knows for sure what it was doing with these jaws. Hypotheses range from trapping jellyfish to opening seashells to just being for show. Our Cycnorhamphus, Django, lives in the shore-pterosaur aviary with other Jurassic pterosaurs. He's missing all the non-wing digits on his left hand and spends a lot of time to himself. |
Scientific name Location Time Wingspan Diet |