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  • Although the crest at the back of its head looks like that of a Pteranodon, none of the known fossils of Pteranodon had the same sort of crest on their beaks, and the shape of the beak was also different. The crest on the beak might indicate that it's a relative of Ornithocheirus (though Ornithocheirus lacked the large crest at the back of the head seen in Pteranodon and this pterosaur) such as Caulkicephalus (which had both a head crest and a crested beak as shown in the illustrations here, though it also had a toothy beak whereas the pterosaur on the show appears to be toothless, and as mentioned here the fossils of Caulkicephalus are only known from the Barremian age which ended about 40 million years before the time of Terra Nova), or an undiscovered species. It could also be a different species of the genus Pteranodon than the one known from the fossil record, Pteranodon longiceps and Geosternbergia (formerly Pteranodon) sternbergi. It also has been speculated to be Muzquizopteryx.
  • The large size, head crest, short tail and apparent lack of teeth are all indicative of a pterodactyloid pterosaur, as opposed to a rhamphorhynchoid.
  • Ecological speculations: In reality, most large pterodactyloids are thought to have been a fish-eaters, so this would likely be the diet of the ones on the show (especially since they are shown to live near an ocean), and they probably do not normally attack land animals.
  • The promotional artwork seen below featured a group of pterosaurs that appear to be normal Pteranodons, since they lack the beak crests seen in this pterosaur. An early script draft summarized here also featured Pteranodons, and they were depicted as a threat, with one attacking and carrying off a colonist. However no Pteranodons have been featured on the show (unless this "unknown pterosaur" is a new species with a different type of beak), so this may represent an earlier idea that was changed along the way.
  • In 2014, a new tapejariid pterosaur named Caiuajara dobruskii was described from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil.
    Caiujara Dim Effect-0
    By coincidence, the juvenile skulls of this form bear a striking resemblance to Terra Nova pterosaur. Impressivly enough, Caiuajara did lived exactly 85 million years ago.
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