Peteinosaurus
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| Peteinosaurus Fossil range: Late Triassic |
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| Peteinosaurus zambellii Wild, 1978 |
The prehistoric reptile Peteinosaurus (Peh-TEIN-o-sore-us) ("winged lizard") was a genus belonging to the Pterosauria. It existed in the late Triassic period in the middle Norian (about 221-210 million years ago). The species name, zambellii, honours Rocco Zambelli, the curator of the Bergamo natural history museum. The genus has been described by the German paleontologist Rupert Wild in 1978.
Three fossils have been found near Cene, Italy: the first, the holotype MCSNB 2886 is however fragmentary and disarticulated; the second, the articulated paratype MCSNB 3359, lacks any diagnostic features of Peteinosaurus and thus might be a different species.
Peteinosaurus is one of the oldest-known pterosaurs, and was tiny when compared to some later species, such as Pteranodon. Like most pterosaurs, Peteinosaurus had bones that were strong but very light, allowing it to have large wings (60 cm. wingspan) but a very low body weight.
An insectivorous lifestyle has been attributed to Peteinosaurus.
The paratype has a long tail (20 cm) made more stiff by ossified tendons stretched along the vertebrae; this feature is common among pterosaurs of the Triassic. Peteinosaurus is trimorphodontic, with three types of conical teeth.
[edit] Popular Culture
Peteinosaurus was featured in the first episode of the popular British documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), though it doesn't have much screentime. The animation returned for a cameo in the 2003 spin-off Sea Monsters, but wasn't identified (it can be presumed it was the same creature).
[edit] References
- Haines, Tim, and Paul Chambers. The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. Pg. 72. Canada: Firefly Books Ltd., 2006.
