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Description
Archilopterodactylus pullulationem
"First winged-finger that pollinates"
Size: 12 centimeters in wingspan
Age: Late Cretaceous (70-66 million BC)
Region: Western North America
Type: Pterodactyloid (Azdarchoid) pterosaur
Diet: Flower nectar, tree sap, insects and pollen

Although flowering plants, or angiosperms, appeared in the Early Cretaceous period, around 130 million years ago, but by around 100 million years ago, they'd begin to spread, become common and dominate the flora, evolving into new species and types. With the rise of flowering plants, this created a huge change in life during the Cretaceous period, mostly the animals such as insects that evolved to pollinate them and reproduce, an example of coevolution.

This even had an impact on the pterosaurs, the flying reptiles which, since they'd evolved in the Triassic period, dominated the Mesozoic skies and diversified into many bizarre species, forms, sizes, and niches now taken by the neornithine birds.

Millions of years before hummingbirds evolved, there was one tiny, bizarre species of pterosaur that was filling that role. An animal called Archilopterodactylus pullulationem, the "first winged-finger that pollinates".

With a 12 centimeter wingspan this was one of the smallest pterosaurs of all time, only rivaled by Nemicolopterus. But this pterosaur is unique for one adaptation. While its giant, enormous azdarchid cousins such Quetzalcoatlus terrorizes small prey, Archilopterodactylus flies fast through the forests, before landing on the branches once seeing a flower, and starts pollinating. Using its long, straight, narrow, pointed beak, it feeds on the rich flower nectar, before moving on to the next flower at fast speed.

This took pterosaur evolution to a whole new level, as they evolved to pollinate, while some pterosaurs fed on fish, fruit, plankton, crustaceans, insects, and even small animals such as small dinosaurs. But however, this rise of pollination among pterosaurs was short lived.

Archilopterodactylus, along with other pterosaurs, died out 66 million years ago during the K-Pg (Cretaceous-Paleogene) Mass Extinction event that killed off 75% of all species and it would be millions of years before hummingbirds evolved to fill in that vacant niche as the new pollinating vertebrates.

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Description
Archilopterodactylus pullulationem
"First winged-finger that pollinates"
Size: 12 centimeters in wingspan
Age: Late Cretaceous (70-66 million BC)
Region: Western North America
Type: Pterodactyloid (Azdarchoid) pterosaur
Diet: Flower nectar, tree sap, insects and pollen

Although flowering plants, or angiosperms, appeared in the Early Cretaceous period, around 130 million years ago, but by around 100 million years ago, they'd begin to spread, become common and dominate the flora, evolving into new species and types. With the rise of flowering plants, this created a huge change in life during the Cretaceous period, mostly the animals such as insects that evolved to pollinate them and reproduce, an example of coevolution.

This even had an impact on the pterosaurs, the flying reptiles which, since they'd evolved in the Triassic period, dominated the Mesozoic skies and diversified into many bizarre species, forms, sizes, and niches now taken by the neornithine birds.

Millions of years before hummingbirds evolved, there was one tiny, bizarre species of pterosaur that was filling that role. An animal called Archilopterodactylus pullulationem, the "first winged-finger that pollinates".

With a 12 centimeter wingspan this was one of the smallest pterosaurs of all time, only rivaled by Nemicolopterus. But this pterosaur is unique for one adaptation. While its giant, enormous azdarchid cousins such Quetzalcoatlus terrorizes small prey, Archilopterodactylus flies fast through the forests, before landing on the branches once seeing a flower, and starts pollinating. Using its long, straight, narrow, pointed beak, it feeds on the rich flower nectar, before moving on to the next flower at fast speed.

This took pterosaur evolution to a whole new level, as they evolved to pollinate, while some pterosaurs fed on fish, fruit, plankton, crustaceans, insects, and even small animals such as small dinosaurs. But however, this rise of pollination among pterosaurs was short lived.

Archilopterodactylus, along with other pterosaurs, died out 66 million years ago during the K-Pg (Cretaceous-Paleogene) Mass Extinction event that killed off 75% of all species and it would be millions of years before hummingbirds evolved to fill in that vacant niche as the new pollinating vertebrates.

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