Tendaguripterus fossil map
Where fossils of Tendaguripterus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 145 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 145 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 | 152.21–149.2 million years ago (Kimmeridgian) |
| Periods | Jurassic |
| Family | Tendaguripteridae |
| Named by | Unwin and Heinrich 1999 |
| Fossil records | 1 occurrences at 1 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Tanzania |
| Rock formations | Tendaguru |
About Tendaguripterus
Tendaguripterus ('Tendaguru wing') is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period in what is now Tanzania. The only specimen – a dentary (lower jaw) – was discovered in strata of the Tendaguru Formation in southeastern Lindi. Between 1910 and 1912, members of a German fossil expedition to the Tendaguru Formation in then-German East Africa collected many pterosaur fossils from Site Jg. One fossil, an isolated dentary, was later taken to the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. This specimen was unnoticed for decades until in 1999, paleontologists David Unwin and Wolf-Dieter Heinrich scientifically described it as belonging to a new genus and species of pterosaur. They named it Tendaguripterus recki, the only known species, after German geologist Hans Reck.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Tendaguripterus (revision 1380586421), 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: Q20672476.
