Mesadactylus
| Mesadactylus Temporal range: Late Jurassic, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Family: | †Anurognathidae |
| Genus: | †Mesadactylus Jensen & Padian, 1989 |
| Species: | †M. ornithosphyos |
| Binomial name | |
| †Mesadactylus ornithosphyos Jensen & Padian, 1989 | |
Mesadactylus ('mesa finger') is an extinct genus of pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado, United States. The genus was named in 1989 by James Jensen and Kevin Padian. The type species is Mesadactylus ornithosphyos.
Classification
[edit]The holotype is BYU 2024, a synsacrum of seven sacral vertebrae, featuring a unique—for a pterosaur—complete fusion of the spinae into a supraneural blade, a character, as the specific name indicates more typical for birds, at first leading Jensen to assign the fossil to a bird, Palaeopteryx.
Further referred associated remains include arms bones, pectoral girdle bones, vertebrae (including cervix and sacral), and femora.[1] Additional material was described in 2004 (including a partial braincase)[2] and 2006; in the latter publication, the authors suggested that its larger contemporary Kepodactylus could be the same animal, although there are minor differences.[3][4]
Jensen and Padian classified Mesadactylus as a pterodactyloid. In 2007 S. Christopher Bennett claimed that the holotype and the referred material came from different forms and that, while the last was indeed of a pterodactyloid nature, the synsacrum belonged to a member of the Anurognathidae.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Jensen, James A.; Padian, Kevin (May 1989). "Small pterosaurs and dinosaurs from the Uncompahgre fauna (Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation: ?Tithonian), late Jurassic, western Colorado". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (3): 363–374. doi:10.1017/S0022336000019533.
- ↑ Smith, David K.; Sanders, R. Kent; Stadtman, Kenneth L (2004). "New material of Mesadactylus ornithosphyos, a primitive pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (4): 850–856. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0850:NMOMOA]2.0.CO;2.
- ↑ 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 Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Vol. 36. Albuquerque: New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. pp. 109–113. ISSN 1524-4156.
- ↑ Harris, Jerald D.; Carpenter, Kenneth (August 1996). "A large pterodactyloid from the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic) of Garden Park, Colorado" (PDF). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte. 1996 (8): 473–484.
- ↑ Bennett, S. Christopher (2007). "Reassessment of Utahdactylus from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (1): 257–260. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[257:ROUFTJ]2.0.CO;2.
