Austriadactylus cristatus was an early pterosaur that lived during the Late Triassic, about 215 million years ago, in what is now Austria and Italy.
It’s one of the most basal (“primitive”) pterosaurs currently known, with its long tail lacking the stiffening bony rods seen in other early “rhamphorhynchoid-grade” forms.
It had a wingspan of around 1.2m (~2′), and a bony crest on its snout that grew taller towards the front. Its jaws contained a mix of two different tooth types – a few long pointed teeth and numerous smaller three-pointed teeth – with wear patterns that suggest its diet primarily consisted of hard-shelled invertebrates.
References:
- Dalla Vecchia, Fabio M., et al. “A crested rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Late Triassic of Austria.” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22.1 (2002): 196-199. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4524213
- Dalla Vecchia, Fabio M. “The first Italian specimen of Austriadactylus cristatus (Diapsida, Pterosauria) from the Norian (Upper Triassic) of the carnic Prealps.” Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 115.3 (2009): 291-304. https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/6385
- Wikipedia contributors. “Austriadactylus” Wikipedia, 26 Sep. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austriadactylus