Introduction:
Anurognathus, it has been a long time since I heard the name. The name itself may not hold anything special in anyone’s heart but to me, it holds a special place. A name that reminds me of my dinosaur-obsessed childhood. Back when I was young and found out about the most famous dinosaur and prehistoric life documentary, Walking With Dinosaurs, I used to make a list of every animal or prehistoric creature that was shown and I remember this little critter who cling on the backs of Diplodocus and suck blood, eat dead skin and insects that were on the body, much like how Egyptian plover bird cleans the teeth of crocodiles.
Anurognathus is a strange, little kind of pterosaurs that was found in Europe. Anurognathus was a bit of a mystery, but we know a lot more than when it was kind because there are more kinds of genera like this with a new family branch being named after it, Anurognathidae. So, let us not waste any time and head down for what Anurognathus has to offer.
Discovery:
The discovery of Anurognathus is quite simple. Quite simple for a small, unassuming pterosaur that would go on to give a rise of new family of pterosaurs. Yeah, surprisingly there are only 2 skeletons found of this guy and both are from Germany’s Solnhofen Limestone. Limestone formations usually provide a lot smaller specimens of dinosaurs and a lot of pterosaurs. This formation has a lot of genera of pterosaurs and I do hope to cover them all or create a list of Pterosaurs which are found in Europe. I already made a list of dinosaurs only in this post and one for UK specifically.
Getting back to the point, the fossil was discovered from a limestone slab and the whole skeleton was crushed. This is a common case for limestone slab finds but the great thing is that it is usually found with a whole skeleton and sometimes with skin or feather impressions which provides a more detailed look than usual fossils. It was discovered in 1922 and it was in the private collection of geologist, Ludwig von Ammon which the biologist, Ludwig Döderlein acquired in 1923.
One thing I want to talk about before I move forward is that the limestone slab fossils found are very unique. So, let’s say you found a limestone slab and you look at the front and back and you find nothing but then what paleontologists would do is that, if the slab is thick, then they will try to split it from the middle of the slab and if you are lucky, you might just find a fossil. Now, that I think about, it is a lot like the ‘gacha mechanic’ from video games like Fate/Grand Order.
If you do want a more detailed look into limestone slabs, I can make a separate post about all kinds of fossils and let me know in the comments below.
Uniqueness of the Discovery:
The full name of this pterosaur is Anurognathus ammoni and the meaning of the general name is Greek for ‘Frog Jaw‘ and the specific name is in honor of the geologist’s last name ‘Ammon‘. The first fossil found consisted of mainly the whole skeleton but some parts were missing and most of it was crushed which is for sometime, paleontologists thought it had a medium-long snout. But after finding another specimen around 2007, the same way, in which the skull was not crushed, we found that the paleontologist, Peter Wellnhofer who described it in 1975, described it wrongly and misplaced the hole sizes in the skull giving us a more traditional, dinosaur-ish looking face.
The mistake was discovered by another paleontologist, S. Christopher Bennett. Thanks to him, we now have a more accurate depiction of this pterosaur and this goes to show that evolution never stops in branching and trying out new features like this one. This guy was probably built for hunting insects and nature made them adapt to that niche.
The skull had big eye holes and a super small skull hole which is almost together with the nose hole which gives us a super flat snout. Anurognathus did have pin-like teeth which looks super scary and the skull had some bumps in the front which paleontologists think might have facial hair or whiskers. With such constructions, the eyes would have placed forward and provided a binocular vision, making it easier to hunt bugs. Imagine it as a very fuzzy, big eyes, big mouth, flying cutie monster. Man, I never had a bird but I really do want an Anurognathus.
Biology:
While I have been talking big about this guy but the size is not a lot but remember, small things can pack a punch and this pterosaur may do just that. There is not a determined height but the length is estimated to be around 3.5 inches (9 cm), the wingspan was 20 inches (50 cm) from the tip of the right wing to tip of the left wing, weighed in around 40g (1.4 oz). It is one of the smallest pterosaurs to ever exist.
Anurognathus lived in the Jurassic Period of Germany where it lived alongside other pterosaurs like Ctenochasma, Pterodactylus, Rhamphorhyncus, and many more. There are even more pterosaurs which I will showcase later. It also lived alongside dinosaurs like the most famous early bird of all time, Archaeopteryx, the smallest dinosaur of all time, Compsognathus, and a large predator which are based off a juvenile skeleton, Juravenator. Surprisingly enough, most finds are actually quite small and not that humongous.
The small size and the build of this pterosaur made it an excellent flyer for the thick jungles of Jurassic Germany providing great maneuverability for hunting down those pesky bugs. It probably filled the role of bats in prehistoric Jurassic of Germany. It probably had to compete against fellow cousins from a distant lineage, Archaeopteryx, and Compsognathus or maybe together, they led an illegal mafia of insect farm. I should actually make a drawing of those guys together. Remind me in the comments if I have not made a illustration yet.
Q&A:
Is anurognathus a dinosaur?
Nope, Anurognathus is 100% not a dinosaur. Anurognathus belongs in the family of pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are extinct, flying reptiles who had the same ancestors like the Dinosaurs. They diverged from the lines of dinosaurs a long time ago but because they had the same ancestors as well as existing alongside the dinosaurs gives people a lot of misunderstanding that pterosaurs are dinosaurs which is completely wrong. Hope this clears it up.
Did anurognathus have feathers?
While there has been no direct evidence of feathers on Anurognathus, another larger Anurognathid, Jeholopterus, has fossil impressions of fur-like filaments or pycnofibers which were covered through the wing membrane as far as until the tip of the wing. Pycnofibers are more like proto-feathers or what feathers were before they become actual feathers and so for now, most pterosaurs had a super fuzzy coat. Anurognathus would look like a super fuzzy bat with big eyes and a huge mouth!
What is the most famous pterosaur?
Hmm… it would be Pterodactylus. Yes, this is the pterosaur for that infamous nickname, Pterodactyl, people use when they think they know dinosaurs and prehistoric animals but they don’t and the thing is, that nickname only means this genus and no other pterosaur and people still use it for other pterosaurs. So please, if you do not know the exact genus or species of a particular pterosaur, call it a pterosaur and not a pterodactyl. Okay?!
Why didn’t small pterosaurs survive?
This is a really good question for which there is no clear answer but a multitude of answers. During the KT-Extinction Event, many of the larger pterosaurs were already extinct and the smaller ones may have survived but then their bodies were not made for the cold winter that would come next. They were built very delicately and they probably were not able to warm themselves with the sun’s heat being blocked due to the ashen clouds and even so, they were probably driven to extinction from the competition with birds. Yes, birds were already evolved by then and they probably outmatched the pterosaurs in that terrible period which even the smallest pterosaurs were not able to compete, let alone survive and later on, all pterosaurs became extinct. I would have loved to see some surviving but alas, that is not the case.
What does the name anurognathus mean?
The name Anurognathus means ‘Frog Jaw’ and the general name originates from Greek language. I presume the paleontologists chose this name because of the weird head shape of this small pterosaur. But I guess it worked out in the long run because after Anurognathus, a lot more similar genera were found and placed in the Anurognathidae family of pterosaurs and now there are 10 genera, including Anurognathus.
Media:
You already know I am going to mention the documentary Walking With Dinosaurs. Because that was the first ever media to portray Anurognathus. While I learned about a new genera of pterosaurs, the depiction of it was full of errors, first being the overall depiction of it. You can say it was due to the time it was made and the skull revision happened in 2007 and the documentary was released in 1998, so I can forgive that but how did this little guy fly all the from Germany to good ol’ USA.
The continents were already shifting and this little pterosaur could definitely not have been able to make a long distance flight at all. Also, let’s not talk about how it is not fuzzy, does not have any whiskers or how not at all cute. With another new remake of the documentary on the horizon, I wonder if they are going to correct the mistakes they made. I need an Anurognathus plushie so bad now!!
More Appearances of Anurognathus:
This guy also made an appearance in other BBC sponsored show called Primeval which carries over the design similarity from the Walking With Dinosaurs. So the same mistakes still stand but however it has even more mistakes than before. It acts like a piranha and it is said to live in the Cretaceous Period, which is absolutely wrong. The build of Anurognathus does not allow for a piranha like behavior.
Is there not anyone with an almost accurate design for Anurognathus? Wait…what? No way!! The massive Jurassic franchise has a design of Anurognathus that is quite accurate to science. Yes, I did not believe it at first either! But Jurassic World Alive apparently has an Anurognathus and it looks super accurate. I am sure it probably has some tiny mistakes but it would be nitpicking at that point. I am glad Jurassic franchise has an Anurognathus. And most times, creatures that have not appeared in the films, are far more accurate to science in the video games.
Also, it was in Jurassic Park III Park Builder and Jurassic Park Sega for PC games. But the designs are so little that you can even hardly see what it is. While the illustration for Jurassic Park III Park Builder is available to see, it ain’t anything spectacular. Because it looks like a version of the Walking With Dinosaurs. But that is it mainly for depictions in media for Anurognathus. For a small pterosaur, the media presence is also small. But I believe it can work super well as pet or a mascot for shows or Role-Playing Games. Or maybe, when I make my own content, I will include the Anurognathus.
Merchandise:
Unfortunately, it does not seem like any merchandise exists for this little bugger but I can at least offer you something. I am always running a Dinosaur illustration service where you can literally ask for any Dinosaur, Pterosaur or Marine Reptile that you want me to draw.
When you use my drawing service, it not only helps me. But also supports in maintaining this website as well as all my other endeavors. This is it for now and the end for the blog post of Anurognathus. I hope to see you again in other posts. You can check out more dinosaurs or other prehistoric creatures post from the Species Profile page!!
References:
- Döderlein, L. (1923). “Anurognathus Ammoni, ein neuer Flugsaurier”. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Abteilung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München, 1923, 306-307.
- Unwin, David M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. New York: Pi Press. p. 246. ISBN0-13-146308-X.
- Ingrid Cranfield (ed.). “Anurognathus”. The Illustrated Directory of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures. London: Salamander Books. pp. 292–295.
- Witton, M.P. (2008) “A new approach to determining pterosaur body mass and its implications for pterosaur flight”. ZittelianiaB28: 143-159
- Bennett, S. C. (2007). “A second specimen of the pterosaur Anurognathus ammoni“, Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 81: 376-398
- Wei, X.; Pêgas, R. V.; Shen, C.; Guo, Y.; Ma, W.; Sun, D.; Zhou, X. (2021). “Sinomacrops bondei, a new anurognathid pterosaur from the Jurassic of China and comments on the group”. PeerJ. 9: e11161. doi:10.7717/peerj.11161. PMC8019321. PMID33850665.
- Bennett S. C. (1995). “A statistical study of Rhamphorhynchus from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany: Year-classes of a single large species”. Journal of Paleontology. 69: 569–580
- Habib, M., & Witton, M. (n.d.). Early Pterosaurs and Dimorphodontidae PTEROSAURIA > PREONDACTYLUS DIMORPHODONTIDAE. Pterosaurs, 74-76.
