Dorygnathus
| Dorygnathus | ||||||||||||
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Dorygnathus banthensis |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Jurassic ( Toarcium ) | ||||||||||||
| 182.7 to 174.1 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Dorygnathus | ||||||||||||
| Wagner , 1860 | ||||||||||||
Dorygnathus ( Gr . "Lanzenkiefer") was a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs from the Lower Jurassic , whose fossil remains were found in Posidonia schist .
Carl Theodori described the first jaw parts and individual bones found in 1830 as Ornithocephalus banthensis . In 1860 the zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner recognized that it had to be a new genus and named it Dorygnathus . Ornithocephalus is now a synonym for Pterodactylus .
Two types have been described. The fossil remains of Dorygnathus banthensis were found at Banz Monastery , at Creez near Bayreuth , at Holzmaden , and at Flechtorf in the Helmstedt district . Dorygnathus mistelgauensis was excavated near Mistelgau , also near Bayreuth.
The animals reached a wingspan of one meter, the bones supporting the wing - and thus the wings - were relatively short. The skull was elongated, in the front of the jaws were long, forward-pointing, curved fangs that interlocked when the mouth was closed. There were smaller teeth in the back of the jaw. Such a bit was an effective device for catching and holding onto slippery prey; it is therefore very likely that Dorygnathus ate fish.
The elongated and laterally splayable fifth toe is striking. If you with a webbed was connected, this could have served as a guide when withdrawing crests.
literature
- Peter Wellnhofer : The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. Crescent Books, New York 1991. ISBN 0-517-03701-7
