Supersaurs
Arambourgiania philadelphiae

The prehistoric behemoth that features on the third coin in the Supersaurs series is the largest flying animal to have ever dominated the skies – Arambourgiania. With a beak like a pelican, a neck like a giraffe, wings like a giant bat and a crest like a Mohican haircut, this extraordinary pterosaur is brought colourfully back to life on this superb coin.  

Widespread short-tailed flying reptiles that died out at the end of the Cretaceous period some 66 million years ago, Arambourgiania were enormous creatures. Researchers estimate that the largest species had a 3-metre-long neck, a 13-metre wingspan and stood 5 metres tall. The earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight, pterosaurs are often referred to as "flying dinosaurs". While that is not the case, they were more closely related to dinosaurs than to contemporary reptiles such as the crocodile.

Arambourgiania features all 12 of the extreme prehistoric animals in the Supersaurs series in silhouette on its obverse, while a colour-printed Arambourgiania is shown in its native prehistoric habitat on the coin’s glow-in-the-dark reverse. The 3 euro Supersaurs coins are legal tender in Austria.

2020_02 Arambourgiana (PDF | 1.13 MB)