Dearc Temporal range: Middle Jurassic,
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Family: | †Rhamphorhynchidae |
Subfamily: | †Rhamphorhynchinae |
Tribe: | †Angustinaripterini |
Genus: | †Dearc Jagielska et al., 2022 |
Species: | †D. sgiathanach
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Binomial name | |
†Dearc sgiathanach Jagielska et al., 2022
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Dearc (Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [tʲɛrxk] ) is a genus of large-bodied rhamphorhynchine pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic Lealt Shale Formation of Scotland. The holotype, a juvenile or subadult that was still actively growing, has an estimated wingspan of 2.5 to 3 meters, making it the largest flying animal of its time. This pushes the origin of large pterosaurs back significantly, as it was previously assumed that pterosaurs did not reach greater body sizes until the short-tailed pterodactyloid lineages of the Cretaceous. The genus contains a single species, Dearc sgiathanach ([ˈtʲɛɾxk ˈs̪kʲiəhanəx] ).