Quetzalcoatlus is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in North America. The type specimen, recovered in 1971 from the Javelina Formation of … See more

Quetzalcoatlus northropi was among the largest azhdarchids, though was rivalled in size by Arambourgiania and Hatzegopteryx (and possibly Cryodrakon). Azhdarchids were split into two primary categories: short-necked taxa with short, robust beaks (i.e. … See more

When describing Quetzalcoatlus in 1975, Douglas Lawson and Crawford Greenewalt opted not to assign it to a clade more specific than Pterodactyloidea, though comparisons with Arambourgiania (then Titanopteryx) from Jordan had been drawn earlier that … See more

In 1975, artist Giovanni Caselli depicted Quetzalcoatlus as a small-headed scavenger with an extremely long neck in the book The … See more

Discovery and naming
The genus Quetzalcoatlus is based on fossils discovered in rocks pertaining to the Late Cretaceous Javelina Formation in Big Bend National Park, Texas. Remains of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life had been found in the … See more

Feeding and ecological niche
In 2008, Mark Witton and Darren Naish pointed out that although azhdarchids have historically … See more

Quetzalcoatlus is known from the Lancian portion of the Javelina Formation, in a fauna dominated by Alamosaurus. It co-existed with another azhdarchid known as Wellnhopterus, … See more