WINGS OVER SOLNHOFEN: GRACEFUL PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS

Pterodactylus antiquus 

Imagine the warm, shallow lagoons of what is now southern Germany during the Late Jurassic, some 150 million years ago. 

The air hums with the buzz of ancient insects, and along the silty shores of the Solnhofen archipelago—an island paradise trapped in time—a delicate shadow flits overhead. 

It’s Pterodactylus spectabilis, one of the earliest and most iconic of the pterosaurs.

Unlike the later, giant azhdarchids that would dominate the skies of the Cretaceous, Pterodactylus was petite and elegant. With a wingspan of about 1.5 metres, it would have weighed less than a modern crow. Its long, narrow jaws bristled with fine, conical teeth—perfect for snapping up fish and small invertebrates from the shallows or even catching insects mid-flight.

The fossils of Pterodactylus spectabilis are beautifully preserved in the fine-grained limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria—the same deposits that yielded Archaeopteryx. 

Pterodactylus by Jean Hermann, 1800

These ancient lagoon sediments captured everything from the membranes of its wings to delicate impressions of skin and muscle. 

The exquisite preservation has allowed us to study details of its anatomy rarely seen in other pterosaurs, including evidence of pycnofibers—fine, hair-like filaments that may have helped insulate its small, warm-blooded body.

As a member of the order Pterosauria, Pterodactylus represents one of the earliest experiments in vertebrate flight. Its elongated fourth finger supported a broad membrane that stretched to its hind limbs, forming a living kite of bone and skin. 

The genus was first described in 1784 by the Italian naturalist Cosimo Alessandro Collini, later named by Georges Cuvier, who recognized it as a flying reptile—a revelation that forever changed how scientists imagined prehistoric life.

Pterodactylus spectabilis remains tell us of early flight and exceptional preservation and beauty—a window into a lagoon world where reptiles ruled the air long before birds had truly taken wing.

Image One: Holotype specimen of Pterodactylus antiquus, BSP AS I 739. Original photograph by Steven U. Vidovic, David M. Martill in http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0110646 Modified by Matthew Martyniuk: Cropped, color adjusted. Top central portion of non-fossil-bearing slab digitally altered to remove portion of ruler.

Image Two: Jean Hermann - Taquet, P., and Padian, K. (2004). "The earliest known restoration of a pterosaur and the philosophical origins of Cuvier’s Ossemens Fossiles." Comptes Rendus Palevol, 3(2): 157-175.

First of two life restorations of Pterodactylus antiquus by Jean Hermann of Strasbourg, sent to George Cuvier in 1800.