Anurognathus ammoni

By Andrey Atuchin, retrieved from http://www.pteros.com/, a website dedicated to education about Pterosaurs.

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Name: Anurognathus ammoni

Name Meaning: Without Tail Jaw

First Described: 1923

Described By: Döderlein

Classification: Avemetatarsalia, Ornithodira, Pterosauromorpha, Pterosauria, Macronychoptera, Novialoidea, Breviquartossa, Pterodactylomorpha, Monofenestrata, Pterodactyliformes, Caelidracones, Anurognathidae

Anurognathus is a small pterosaur that is oftentimes affectionately known as a “frog bat,” and it would have looked like a strange reptilian bat in its Jurassic environment. It is known from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany, living about 150 to 148 million years ago, in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic. Famed for its appearance in Walking with Dinosaurs, it did not look like it did on that show - and also didn’t live in the place where it was depicted! But, well, there you go. It only had a 35 centimeter long wingspan, and was only about 10 centimeters from head to tail, and is known from a fairly complete skeleton on a crushed slab that is only really an impression, as well as a subadult specimen. 

By Julio Lacerda, @paleoart, used with permission from @252mya

Anurognathus had a short head with small teeth for catching insects. Its short tail would have allowed it to maneuver better while flying, which may indicate that it lived in a denser environment than longer tailed pterosaurs, such as a forest, or hunted smaller swifter prey, such as flying insects. Their broad wings would also have helped in maneuvering through their environment. It also had large eyes, which probably means that they hunted in low light, such as at dusk, or even at night- reptile bats, indeed. It would have been covered in fuzzy pycnofibres as well, like all pterosaurs, and probably even had them on its wings, which would have muffled its wingbeats so it could hunt silently through the forest. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anurognathus

http://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/anurognathus.html

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