Name:
Volgadraco
(Volga Dragon).
Phonetic: Vol-ga-dra-co.
Named By: Averianov et al. - 2008.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria,
Pterodactyloidea. Past this point placement is uncertain, refer to main
text.
Species: V. bogolubovi (type).
Type: Probably carnivorous as other adarchids were.
Size: Uncertain due to incomplete material.
Known locations: Russia, Saratov - Rybushka
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Lower beak and partial post
cranial remains.
Named after the Volga River, Volgadraco shows morphological features that show the transition from the more basal azdarchid pterosaurs to the later genera that existed at the end of the Cretaceous. Later studies however have concluded that Volgadraco may actually have been either a nyctosaurid or pteranodont pterosaur.
Further reading
- A New Late Cretaceous Azhdarchid (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the
Volga Region. - Paleontological Journal. 42 (6): 634–642. - A. O.
Averianov, M. S. Arkhangelsky & E. M. Pervushov - 2008.
- Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction
of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. - PLOS Biology. 16
(3): e2001663. - Nicholas R. Longrich, David M. martill, Brian Andres
& David Penny - 2018.
-
A large pteranodontid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Eastern
Europe. - Geological Magazine: 1–13. - A. O. Averianov & M.S.
Arkhangelsky - 2020.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |