Geosternbergia
JEE-oh-stern-BERG-ee-ah
Geosternbergia is named after American paleontologist George F. Sternberg, who was the first to discover then genus. It is one of the largest pterosaurs, with a wingspan of over 7m and a long, tapered beak that can grab fish out of the water or be used as a spear for catching them. Geosternbergia is notable for the distinctive crest on its head, which it used to attract mates for reproduction.
Discovery
Sternberg extracted the first Geosternbergia fossils from the Niobrara Formation, Kansas in 1952. It was originally classified as a new species of Pteranodon, but further study let to its reclassification as a subgenus in 1971 and eventually a new genus in 2010.
Palaeoecology
Geosternbergia dates back to the Late Cretaceous period, around 85m years ago, and lived in North America. It mainly lived near coastal regions and had a piscivorous diet, darting into the ocean to feed and steering clear of the apex predator, Tyrannosaurus rex.
Information
- Era
- Late Cretaceous
- Family
- Pteranodontidae
- Genus
- Geosternbergia
- Height
- 1M
- Wingspan
- 7M
- Weight
- 3Kg
- Diet
- Piscivore, Live Prey
- Egg batch size
- 1 - 3
