Cearadactylus

Taxobox
name = "Cearadactylus"
fossil_range = mid-Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Pterodactyloidea
familia = Ctenochasmatidae
genus = "Cearadactylus"
genus_authority = Leonardi & Borgomanero, 1985
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "C. atrox" Leonardi & Borgomanero, 1985 (type)

"Cearadactylus" (meaning "Ceara finger") was a large, mid-Cretaceous (Aptian) pterosaur. It's wingspan is estimated to have been around 4 to 5.5 metres (13 to 18 feet), with a weight of perhaps 15 kilograms.Fact|date=March 2008 Its kinked upper jaw and its interlocking teeth suggest a piscivourous diet, allowing the animal to keep hold of slippery fish.

The type species is "Cearadactylus atrox", described and named by Leonardi and Borgomanero in 1985. It was discovered on the Araripe plateau (Santana Formation) in northeastern Brazil and is known from a single skull.Leonardi, G. & Borgomanero, G. (1985). "Cearadactylus atrox" nov. gen., nov. sp.: novo Pterosauria (Pterodactyloidea) da Chapada do Araripe, Ceara, Brasil." "Resumos dos communicaçoes VIII Congresso bras. de Paleontologia e Stratigrafia", 27: 75–80.]

In popular culture

It was in the original "Jurassic Park" novel by Michael Crichton. In "" there is an sinister "Cearadactylus" named Sierra.

References

* Unwin, D.M. (2002). "On the systematic relationships of "Cearadactylus atrox", an enigmatic Early Cretaceous pterosaur from the Santana Formation of Brazil." "Mitteilungen Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Geowissenschaftlichen Reihe", 5: 239-263.