Pterodactylus (Pterodactyl)

Pterodactylus (Greek for "wing finger"); pronounced TEH-roe-DACK-till-us; sometimes called Pterodactyl

Shores of Europe and South Africa

Late Jurassic (150-144 million years ago)

Wingspan of 3 feet and 2 to 10 pounds

Insects, meat and fish

Long beak and neck; short tail; wings attached to three-fingered hands

Pterodactylus is a case study in how confusing it can be to classify ancient reptiles. The first specimen of this pterosaur was discovered way back in 1784, before naturalists had any conception of evolution (a theory that wouldn't be scientifically formulated until about 70 years later) or, indeed, any grasp of the possibility that animals could go extinct. In fact, Pterodactylus was named by one of the first scientists to grapple with these possibilities, the Frenchman Georges Cuvier. (See a gallery of Pterodactylus and Pteranodon pictures and 10 Facts About Pterodactyls.)

Because it was discovered so early in paleontological history, Pterodactylus suffered the fate of other before-their-time dinosaurs of the 19th century like Megalosaurus and Iguanodon: any fossil that remotely resembled the "type specimen" was assumed to belong to a separate Pterodactylus species. Paleontologists have since sorted out most of the confusion; the remaining two Pterodactylus species (for the record, Pterodactylus antiquus and Pterodactylus longicollum) are beyond reproach. On a related note, because it's been in the public eye for over two centuries, Pterodactylus (in the abbreviated form "Pterodactyl") has become pretty much synonymous with "flying reptile," and is ironically often used to describe the entirely different pterosaur Pteranodon. (See 10 Facts About "Pterodactyls.")

Now that we've sorted that all out, what kind of creature was Pterodactylus? This late Jurassic pterosaur was characterized by its relatively small size (a wingspan of about three feet and weight in the 10 to 20 pound range), long, narrow beak, and short tail. Pterodactylus is often depicted as flying low over the coastlines of western Europe and northern Africa (much like a modern seagull) and plucking out small fish, though it may have subsisted on insects (or even the occasional dinosaur) as well. For the record, Pterodactylus was only remotely related to the first prehistoric birds, which descended instead from small, terrestrial, feathered dinosaurs.