Comodactylus
Comodactylus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Genus: | †Comodactylus Galton, 1981 |
Species: | †C. ostromi
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Binomial name | |
†Comodactylus ostromi Galton, 1981
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Comodactylus is a
In 1879 collector William Harlow Reed sent some fossil material he had excavated at Como Bluff in Quarry N° 9, or the "Mammal Quarry," to his employer Professor Othniel Charles Marsh at New Haven. Among it was the bone of a pterosaur that was subsequently filed, stored and forgotten.
In 1981 Peter Galton erected the genus Comodactylus based on this bone. The type species is Comodactylus ostromi. The genus name is derived from Como Bluff and Greek daktylos, meaning "finger," referring to the dramatically extended wing finger that is unique to pterosaurs. The specific name honors John Ostrom.
The
The wingspan has been estimated at 2.5 meters (8.2 ft), exceptionally large for a pterosaur not belonging to the Pterodactyloidea.[1] Comodactylus was also the first non-pterodactyloid pterosaur that was found in the Americas.
See also
References