12/7/2014
Well, technically "pterodactyl" is an incorrect term. There were pterodactylus and pteranodon, and these were types of pterosaurs.
Pterodactylus was just one genus of pterosaur which were winged reptiles of the late Jurassic period. Pterodactylus fossils were the first of the pterosaurs to be discovered by humans, around 1780. At first, some scientists believed that pterodactylus was an aquatic creature which used it's wings like plesiosaurs used their flippers. Later they thought that the animals had feathers or fur and they were classified with monotremes as part-reptiles, part mammals. Keep in mind that paleontology and even evolution were developing sciences at the time. Pterodactylus size tended to be less than 8 feet from wingtip to wingtip. As reptiles, none of the pterosaurs were closely related to dinosaurs or birds.
Pteranodon fleshed out by Michelle Annette Leveille
In 2012 the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum asked me to create some graphics for their new Dinosaur Hall. The artist on their Dinosaur Institute staff, Stephanie Abramowicz, was understandably overworked with the need to paint images to accompany all of the dinosaurs going on display. She had started many of the paintings but assistance was needed to complete them before the exhibit opening. I completed the pteranodon above. The bony crest and lack of teeth are a couple of indicators that it is a pteranodon instead of a pterodactylus.
I was also tasked with creating bone maps, (skeletal diagrams) of the rest of the fossils on exhibit. Here are three different pterosaurs:
Pteranodon bone map drawn by Michelle Annette Leveille for the LACMNH
Above is a bone map of a pteranodon.
Next is a quetzalcoatlus.
Quetzalcoatlus bone map drawn by Michelle Annette Leveille for the LACMNH
This reptile was much bigger. Quetzalcoatlus boasted a wingspan of 40 feet, the largest of the known pterosaurs. That's as wide as an FA-18c Hornet fighter jet.
Lastly, here is the relatively small rhamphorhynchus. The size of this reptile topped out at about 5.9 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It had needle-sharp teeth which interlaced when the animal closed its mouth, and a diamond-shaped vane on its long tail.
Rhamphorhynchus bone map by Michelle Annette Leveille for the LACMNH
Fossil remains of rhamphorhynchus have been discovered in limestone in Bavaria, Tanzania, England, Spain. Impressions of their wing membranes and tails are sometimes left in the rock as well.
An early artists impression of the appearance of rhamphorynchus, based upon fossil evidence.
I personally wonder if these curious marks in stone were viewed by humans as proof of the existence of demons.
St. Anthony Tormented By Demons, by Martin Schongauer, 1450
