Important Pterosaur fossil sites
Pterosaur fossils are rare and sites that contain good quality pterosaur fossils are very rare. Many pterosaurs would have lived in places where fossil deposits were not being formed. Such places are called erosional environments. Where pterosaurs lived in places where fossils were able to be formed, then fossils will be found. The main problem is that when an animal dies, it tends to be eaten by other animals. This means that in favourable conditions, most fossils will be bits of animals that have been eaten by scavengers. Perhaps only a bone fragment of a part of a wing will survive to be fossilised.
There are some sites that contain very good fossil remains. These sites form in conditions where animals can be quickly buried before scavengers can find them. The best sites are those where bacteria cannot work and decomposition is slow. Most of the good quality pterosaur fossils are found in shallow water deposits where fossil formation is particularly good.
Triassic Era, 220 million years ago.
There are many fossil sites that contain individual bones of pterosaurs.
| The best quality site is in the Zorzino Limestone near Bergamo in Italy, where Eudimorphodon ranzi and other similar pterosaurs were found. All of the Triassic sites contain the early long tailed pterosaurs. |
Jurassic Era, 150 million years ago.
Whilst there are many sites around the world that contain good fossil remains from this age, there are two very exceptional sites.
| The Lithographic Limestone in Bavaria, Germany, contains some of the most complete pterosaur fossils ever found. The conditions here were perfect for preserving fossils and even some of the soft tissues and wing membranes have survived. Both long tailed and short tailed pterosaurs are found at this site. These include Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus. | The Qaratai (Karatau) Mountains in Kazakhstan contains fossils of a very fine nature. Here was found the pterosaur Sordes pilosus, which was fossilised with wing membranes preserved. |
The Cretaceous Era, 70 million years ago.
There are more Late Cretaceous sites because this age is more recent. The rocks containing fossils have had less time to decay or be eroded. Sites of this age are found all around the world. The finest sites are listed here.
| Xinjiang in China is a site that has produced a number of interesting pterosaur fossils. These include the pterosaurs Dsungeripterus wei and Noripterus complicidens which are very distinctive in their body features with large and powerful jaws. | The Niobara Chalk and similar deposits in Texas and Kansas in the U.S.A. contain many of the largest pterosaurs like Pteranodon ingens and Quetzalcoatlus northropi. These pterosaur bones are very fragile and are often found crushed. Many individual animals have been found and skeletons have been reconstructed. | The Araripe plateau in Brazil is a site that has provided a large variety of pterosaurs in very good condition. Tropiognathus, Tapejara and Tupuxuara are three very distinct types of pterosaur from this site. |