Burpee Museum pterosaur skull
       
     
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Burpee pterosaur
       
     
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Burpee Museum pterosaur skull
       
     
Burpee Museum pterosaur skull

A single pterosaur neck bone was found amongst dinosaur remains from Montana by the Burpee museum of Rockford, Illinois.  While smaller than a Quetzalcoatlus vertebra, this particular cervical vertebra was so similar in shape and proportion that it hints at what the rest of the animal may have looked like.  I sculpted this skull and neck so the Burpee’s visitors could better understand how this new pterosaur may have appeared.  As the specimen was found in matrix with “Jane”, the juvenile tyrannosaur, this restored pterosaur was debuted in 2005 at the opening of the Burpee’s Jane exhibit.

AN AZHDARCHID PTEROSAUR CERVICAL VERTEBRA FROM THE HELL CREEK FORMATION (MAASTRICHTIAN) OF SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA

MICHAEL D. HENDERSON and JOSEPH E. PETERSON

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(1):192-195. 2006   doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[192:AAPCVF]2.0.CO;2

 

DSC05198.JPG
       
     
Burpee pterosaur
       
     
Burpee pterosaur
DSC01204.JPG