Balaenognathus

Balaenognathus (meaning "bowhead whale jaw") is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaurs from the Late Jurassic Torleite Formation of Bavaria, Germany. The genus contains a single species, B. maeuseri, known from a nearly-complete, articulated skeleton.

== Discovery and naming == thumb|left|upright|Stratigraphic horizon and locality of the holotype ([[Torleite Formation)]] The Balaenognathus holotype specimen, NKMB P2011-633, was discovered in sediments of the Torleite Formation, dated to the upper Kimmeridgian–Tithonian ages of the late Jurassic period, near Wattendorf, Bavaria, in southern Germany. The fossil was accidentally discovered in September 2011 while crocodylomorph bones were being collected. The specimen consists of a well-preserved, nearly-complete, articulated individual. Wing membrane soft tissue is preserved in a small part of the specimen. The specimen is preserved on a slab consisting of 17 pieces, lacking only part of the left wing-finger metacarpal, the articular area of a wing-finger phalanx, including the three digits of the left wing, and a small portion of the left ilium.