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Description
Pterodactylus antiquus
Named by Georges Cuvier, 1809 (Specific name by Samuel Thomas von Soemmering, 1812)
Diet: Piscivore (fish, belemnites, etc.)
Type: Pterodactyloid (Pterodactylid) pterosaur
Size: 3.5 (1.4 meters) wingspan (Note: the size is just estimate as it was mostly known from juvenile remains and the only adult specimen was a skull)
Region: Europe (Germany)
Age: Late Jurassic (150.8 to 148.5 million BC; Ealy Tithonian)
Enemies: Ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs such as Compsognathus; metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs such as Dakosaurus and Geosaurus.
Episode: Ballad of Big Al (Picture only the website vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/w… )
Info: The first pterosaur ever to be discovered and scientifically named and described, this animal was first found at some point between 1767 and 1784 in the famous Solnhofen Limestone quarry Formation in Bavaria, Germany and was studied and published in 1784 by Italian naturalist Cosimo Collini in which he thought it was an amphibious penguin-like creature whose elongated fourth digit on each hand may have represented the spar of a flipper. But it was in 1809 that the eminent French anatomist Georges Cuvier studied, announced, and confirmed that it was a flying reptile whose elongated fourth fingers formed a wing made of a thin membrane of skin much like bats and gives it the name "Pterodactyl" or "Winged finger", a cliched and errornous term used to describe all members of the pterosaur clade and is still being used in the media to this day.

Note: Based on skeletal reconstruction by Mark P. Witton while head coloration similar to Luis V. Rey. Originally I was going to update it to a Morrison Formation pterodactyloid Kepodactylus since Pterodactylus is not found in the area where The Ballad of Big Al is set and make the Pterodactylus from ITW. But however, because there wasn't a lot of info and images of Kepodactylus, I decided to make it into Pterodactylus itself for its fame and importance (at least I inlcuded Kepodactylus in the Big Al story I made). Also I was having a very hard time finding the original image that was known from the website The Ballad of Big Al, until offered me that. Also since this is the only original image of the pterosaur, it was hard to determine the full coloration, so this is the best I did.

So here's a pterosaur that started our knowledge of these flying reptiles, just as Megalosaurus started our knowledge of dinosaurs.

Requested by

Walking with Dinosaurs is owned by BBC

Description
Pterodactylus antiquus
Named by Georges Cuvier, 1809 (Specific name by Samuel Thomas von Soemmering, 1812)
Diet: Piscivore (fish, belemnites, etc.)
Type: Pterodactyloid (Pterodactylid) pterosaur
Size: 3.5 (1.4 meters) wingspan (Note: the size is just estimate as it was mostly known from juvenile remains and the only adult specimen was a skull)
Region: Europe (Germany)
Age: Late Jurassic (150.8 to 148.5 million BC; Ealy Tithonian)
Enemies: Ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs such as Compsognathus; metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs such as Dakosaurus and Geosaurus.
Episode: Ballad of Big Al (Picture only the website vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/w… )
Info: The first pterosaur ever to be discovered and scientifically named and described, this animal was first found at some point between 1767 and 1784 in the famous Solnhofen Limestone quarry Formation in Bavaria, Germany and was studied and published in 1784 by Italian naturalist Cosimo Collini in which he thought it was an amphibious penguin-like creature whose elongated fourth digit on each hand may have represented the spar of a flipper. But it was in 1809 that the eminent French anatomist Georges Cuvier studied, announced, and confirmed that it was a flying reptile whose elongated fourth fingers formed a wing made of a thin membrane of skin much like bats and gives it the name "Pterodactyl" or "Winged finger", a cliched and errornous term used to describe all members of the pterosaur clade and is still being used in the media to this day.

Note: Based on skeletal reconstruction by Mark P. Witton while head coloration similar to Luis V. Rey. Originally I was going to update it to a Morrison Formation pterodactyloid Kepodactylus since Pterodactylus is not found in the area where The Ballad of Big Al is set and make the Pterodactylus from ITW. But however, because there wasn't a lot of info and images of Kepodactylus, I decided to make it into Pterodactylus itself for its fame and importance (at least I inlcuded Kepodactylus in the Big Al story I made). Also I was having a very hard time finding the original image that was known from the website The Ballad of Big Al, until offered me that. Also since this is the only original image of the pterosaur, it was hard to determine the full coloration, so this is the best I did.

So here's a pterosaur that started our knowledge of these flying reptiles, just as Megalosaurus started our knowledge of dinosaurs.

Requested by

Walking with Dinosaurs is owned by BBC