Gnathosaurusとは 意味・読み方・使い方

Gnathosaurus (meaning 'jaw lizard') is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur known from a single species, G. subulatus, described in 1833. This pterosaur had an estimated wingspan of about 1.7 meters. The slender, 28-cm-long skull had up to 130 needle-like teeth arranged laterally around the spoon-shaped tip. Fragments of Gnathosaurus jaw were first discovered in 1832 in the Solnhofen limestones of Southern Germany but were mistaken for a piece of teleosaurid crocodile jaw, hence the synonym Crocodylus multidens. Only when a skull was found in 1951 was the animal found to have been a pterosaur. The teeth arranged in a spoon shape may have been used to strain water for small animals, although this is conjectural.