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College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Department of Geological Sciences

Caelestiventus hanseni

Caelestiventus hanseni was a pterosaur (a flying reptile, not a dinosaur) that lived during the Late Triassic Period about 208 million years ago. It was discovered in the Saints & Sinners Quarry, and was officially named in 2018 by BYU’s paleontologists Drs. Brooks B. Britt and Rodney Scheetz.

Caelestiventus hanseni skull against a black background.
Photo by Nate Edwards

Caelestiventus had a wingspan of 5 feet (1.5 meters), lots of small teeth, and was covered in small hair-like structures called pycnofibers, like most pterosaurs.

Reconstruction of Caelestiventus hanseni to reflect what it may have looked like
Photo by Michael Skrepnick