Dermodactylus

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Dermodactylus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic
metacarpal
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Family: †Incertae sedis
Genus: †Dermodactylus
Marsh, 1881
Species:
†D. montanus
Binomial name
†Dermodactylus montanus
(Marsh, 1878)
Synonyms

Dermodactylus (meaning "skin finger", from Greek derma and daktylos, in reference to

Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, United States. It is based on
a single partial bone, from the hand.

History and classification

Dermodactylus is based on a single

teeth, vertebrae, and a scapulacoracoid to it,[4] but this material is probably too large to belong to the type individual.[5]

Its place within the Pterosauria is uncertain, beyond the Pterodactyloidea.[6] The material it is based on is too meager for further classification (although Carpenter et al.. [2003] note that the shape of the bone's articular end means that it did not belong to an ornithocheirid, a type of short-tailed pterosaur that often had a head crest and/or large teeth),[7] or for adding additional remains to the genus with any certainty, and so it is now regarded as a dubious pterodactyloid.[7][8][9][10] It was not even mentioned in the most recent major popular work on pterosaurs.[11]

Paleobiology

Marsh suggested it had a wingspan of 1.5-1.8 meters (5–6 feet),[4] but this is including the material excluded by Peter Wellnhofer, who estimates the wingspan of the only known individual at 1 meter (3.28 feet).[2] John Foster estimates its weight at 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds). It would probably have been a small aerial carnivore.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ YPM=Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Connecticut.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7607-0154-6
    .
  3. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-16.93.233
    .
  4. ^
    doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-21.124.342
    .
  5. ISBN 978-3-437-30269-5
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-7607-0154-6
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-86239-143-7
    .
  8. ^ Harris, Jerald D.; Carpenter, Kenneth (1996). "A large pterodactyloid from the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic) of Garden Park, Colorado". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte. 8: 473–484.
  9. ISBN 978-0-7864-2295-1
    .
  10. ^ King, Lorin R.; Foster, John R.; Scheetz, Rodney D. (2006). "New pterosaur specimens from the Morrison Formation and a summary of the Late Jurassic pterosaur record of the Rocky Mountain region". In Foster, John R.; Lucas, Spencer G. (eds.). Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Vol. 36. Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. pp. 149–161.
  11. ISBN 978-0-13-146308-0
    .
  12. ^ Foster, John R. (2003). Paleoecological Analysis of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain Region, U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 23. Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. p. 37.

Further reading

  • James A. Jensen; John H. Ostrom (July 1977). "A Second Jurassic Pterosaur from North America". Journal of Paleontology. 51 (4): 867–870.
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