pteranodon
Jun. 7th, 2013 07:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordpteranodon ('ter-AN-uh-don) - n., any of a genus (Pterandon) of late Cretaceous pterasaurs having a long pointed head, a long wingspan, and no teeth.
That last being the defining characteristic, as the name means "wing (pteron) + no teeth (anodōn)". These were the largest of the pterosaurs, and currently two species are recognized, living from 88 to 84.5 million years ago. Note that I am carefully not calling them dinosaurs, as pterosaurs like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs were technically neither sauropods nor ornithopods, but other kinds of large reptiles living at the same time -- however, a good measure of a dinosaur exhibit at a natural history museum is whether they have flying things swooping down from the ceiling.
And that wraps up my week of pt-cruising. Back with the regular mix next week.
---L.
That last being the defining characteristic, as the name means "wing (pteron) + no teeth (anodōn)". These were the largest of the pterosaurs, and currently two species are recognized, living from 88 to 84.5 million years ago. Note that I am carefully not calling them dinosaurs, as pterosaurs like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs were technically neither sauropods nor ornithopods, but other kinds of large reptiles living at the same time -- however, a good measure of a dinosaur exhibit at a natural history museum is whether they have flying things swooping down from the ceiling.
And that wraps up my week of pt-cruising. Back with the regular mix next week.
---L.
