| Gobiazhdarcho Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Turonian–Santonian | |
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| Speculative life restoration of Gobiazhdarcho (larger; orange) and Tsogtopteryx (smaller; blue) in a Bayanshiree environment with the ornithopod dinosaur Gobihadros. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Family: | †Azhdarchidae |
| Clade: | †Quetzalcoatlini |
| Genus: | †Gobiazhdarcho Pêgas et al., 2025 |
| Species: | †G. tsogtbaatari |
| Binomial name | |
| †Gobiazhdarcho tsogtbaatari Pêgas et al l., 2025 | |
Gobiazhdarcho is an extinct genus of large sized azhdarchid pterosaur that live in what is now Mongolia during Late Cretaceous period. The type species is G. tsogtbaatari.
Description[]
Gobiazhdarcho was a very tall tall pterosaur, around the height of 3.5 metres tall, the type specimen is though have been belonging to an immature adult that was about to maturity, this is known due to the lack of grained texture which are commonly seen among other young or immature pterosaur. It was generally much larger than the contemporary Tsogtopteryx, which was also discribed alongside it.
Discovery and Naming[]
Third cervical vertebra of the holotype
The holotype of Gobiazhdarcho was discovered in 1995 by the paleontologists from Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences and Mongolian Paleontological Center teams, they reported some neck vertebrae discovered in the Gobi Desert. Furthermore,In 2009, Watabe has reported another additional neck vertebra from the same area.
In 2025, Pêgas and his colleagues have described these remains as a new genus and species of azhdarchid pterosaur, Gobiazhdarcho tsogtbaatari, where the genus name "Gobi" is after the Gobi desert, "azhdarcho" being the the Persian word for Dragon/Azhdar-like creature and the species name "tsogtbaatari" in the honour of the paleontologist, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar. This genus and Species of Azhdarchid pterosaur actually did lived and co existed in the same habitat and area as; another Azhdarchid pterosaur called Tsogtopteryx.
Classification[]
Gobiazhdarcho is currently classified as an azhdarchid pterosaur.