Pterodactylus
| Pterodactylus | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Live reconstruction of Pterodactylus antiquus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Tithonium ( Upper Jurassic ) | ||||||||||||
| 152.1 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pterodactylus | ||||||||||||
| Cuvier , 1809 |
Pterodactylus (from ancient Greek πτερόν pteron "wings" and δάκτυλος daktylos "fingers"; literally "wing fingers") is a genus of small pterodactyloidea (Pterodactyloidea) from the Jurassic. Fossils were found near Weymouth in England , in the quarries of Solnhofen and Mörnsheim in Bavaria and in Tendaguru in Tanzania . Pterodactylus probably livedon the banks of lakes and rivers, feeding on small fish and other small animals.
features
It had a wingspan of 50 to 75 centimeters. A young animal with a trunk length of 2 centimeters and a wingspan of 18 centimeters was also found in Solnhofen. The skull was slender, elongated and without a crest of bones. The skull window for the nostril was the same size as the orbit (eye socket) or longer. The square leg was in a horizontal or slightly inclined position. On each side of the upper jaw there were three to four teeth on the premaxillary and 10 to 35 on the maxillary. Only the front third to the front half of the jaws were dentate.
species
Of the many species described, only the type Pterodactylus antiquus is currently valid. Other species such as P. micronyx and P. longicollum are now assigned to other genera of pterosaurs.
Pterodactylus antiquus - Mayor-Müller Museum
Pterodactylus antiquus - Senckenberg Natural History Museum
Pterodactylus antiquus - Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pterodactylus antiquus - Carnegie Museum of Natural History
literature
- Peter Wellnhofer : Pterosaurs. Pterosauria. (= Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei. Volume 534). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg Lutherstadt 1980, ISSN 0138-1423 .
- Peter Wellnhofer: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. Crescent Books, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-517-03701-7 .
- David M. Unwin: The Pterosaurs. From deep time. PI Press, New York NY 2006, ISBN 0-13-146308-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ Bennett, SC (2013). New information on body size and cranial display structures of Pterodactylus antiquus, with a revision of the genus. Palaeontological Journal , 87 (2), 269–289.
