Saratovia

Saratovia is a genus of targaryendraconian pterosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Russia. The genus contains a single species, S. glickmani, known from a partial lower jawbone, and is named after the city of Saratov, where the specimen was found, and its discover Leonid S. Glickman. The fossil comes from sedimentary rocks of the Melovatka Formation. Uncovered in the 1940s, the only specimen was assigned to various genera such as Ornithocheirus, Anhanguera and Coloborhynchus before being recognized as a new taxon and named in 2025. Likewise, though long thought to belong to the family Ornithocheiridae, more recent research lead to the erection of the distinct group Targaryendraconia, of which Saratovia is thought to be a member. As with other targaryendraconians, Saratovia would have possessed a narrow and elongate jaw tip filled with long teeth. It is distinguished from these relatives and other pterosaurs by the lack of a groove through the middle of its lower jaw, instead possessing a flattened platform covered in small foramina (holes) leading to an internal canal. Living in a shallow continental sea alongside marine reptiles and other pterosaurs, it likely had a piscivorous diet. As this ecosystem dates to the end of the Cenomanian age, Saratovia is considered one of the last toothed pterosaurs in the fossil record before their extinction.