Cimoliopterus fossil map
Where fossils of Cimoliopterus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 100 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 100 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Pterosaurs |
|---|---|
| Lived | 100.5–89.8 million years ago (Cenomanian to Turonian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Named by | Rodrigues and Kellner 2013 |
| Fossil records | 2 occurrences at 2 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United Kingdom, United States |
| Rock formations | txn:NF, Britton |
About Cimoliopterus
Cimoliopterus is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now England and the United States. The first known specimen, consisting of the front part of a snout including part of a crest, was discovered in the Grey Chalk Subgroup of Kent, England, and described as the new species Pterodactylus cuvieri in 1851. The specific name cuvieri honoured the palaeontologist George Cuvier, and the genus Pterodactylus was then used for many pterosaurs of species that are no longer thought to be closely related. It was among the first pterosaurs to be depicted as sculptures, in Crystal Palace Park in the 1850s. The species was subsequently assigned to various other genera, including Ornithocheirus and Anhanguera. In 2013, the species was moved to a new genus, as C. cuvieri; the generic name Cimoliopterus is derived from the Greek words for "chalk" and "wing". Other specimens and species have also been assigned to or synonymised with the species with various levels of certainty. In 2015, a snout discovered in the Britton Formation of Texas, US, was named as a new species in the genus, C. dunni. A species from the Cambridge Greensand of England originally assigned to Ornithocheirus was assigned to Cimoliopterus in 2025, as C. colorhinus.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Cimoliopterus (revision 1376208210), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q13438970.
