Anurognathus was a tiny pterosaur and a cousin of the dinosaurs. Its body was very small (9 cm) compared with its extensive wings (50 cm) and it had a stubby tail. Anurognathus was a specialised insectivore and had a compact 2 cm head full of needle-like teeth. Its short, deep skull was characteristic of the primitive pterosaurs. In time they evolved longer and thinner heads.

Palaeontologists believe that Anurognathus ate insects like lacewings and damsel flies, but that some of the dragonflies may have been too big for it to tackle. There is a theory that it may have conducted operations from the backs of large sauropods, such as Diplodocus. This is what some birds do today, sitting on the backs of animals in grazing herds. They feed on the insects that lives on their backs and those that are disturbed as the herd moves.

Only one skeleton of Anurognathus has been found and this was in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany.