Smallish Terror

(Wyoming, USA, 152MYA)

A Morrison Tree Rat (Docodon sp) descends from its usual haunt in the branches to investigate for prey in the (poorly drawn) horsetails below. This is the last mistake the mammal, the most massive of its kind in the area, will make however, as a Greater Crowbat (Harpactognathus gentryii) descends from the air and, upon landing, seizes the mammal in its jaws, tossing it into the air before it swallows it whole.

Often the big, predatory ground-roaming pterosaur cliche is reserved for restorations of azhdarchids such as Quetzalcoatlus or Hatzegopteryx. But they weren't the only pterosaurs that adapted to this lifestyle; Thalassodromeus might have done the same as well as scaphognathines such as Harpactognathus. And while Harpactognathus was rather smaller than azhdarchids, with an 8ft wingspan, its pretty big by our standards today, and would have been a giant to the creatures it hunted on a daily basis.