Peteinosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Peteinosaurus zambellii Wild, 1978 |
The prehistoric reptile Peteinosaurus (Peh-TEIN-o-sore-us) was a genus belonging to the Pterosauria. It existed in the late Triassic period in the middle Norian (about 210 million years ago). The genus name means "flying reptile", the species name, zambellii, honours Rocco Zambelli, the curator of the Bergamo natural history museum. The genus has been desribed by the German paleontologist Rupert Wild in 1978.
Three fossils have been found near Cene, Italy: the first, the holotype MCSNB 2886 is however fragmentary and disarticulated; the second, the articulated paratype MCSNB 3359, lacks any diagnostic features of Peteinosaurus and thus might be a different species.
An insectivorous lifestyle has been attributed to Peteinosaurus.
The paratype has a long tail (20 cm) made more stiff by ossified tendons stretched along the vertebrae; this feature is common among pterosaurs of the Triassic. Peteinosaurus is trimorphodontic, with three types of conical teeth.
Peteinosaurus was featured in the first episode of the popular British documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs (1999), though it doesn't have much screentime. The animation returned for a cameo in the 2003 spin-off Sea Monsters, but wasn't identified (it can be presumed it was the same creature).
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