Nesodactylus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nesodactylus
Fossil range: Late Jurassic

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Pterosauria
Suborder:	Rhamphorhynchoidea
Family:	uncertain
Genus:	Nesodactylus Colbert, 1969

Binomial name

Nesodactylus hesperius
Colbert, 1969

Nesodactylus (meaning "island finger") was a genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Oxfordian-age Upper Jurassic Jagua Formation of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. It is based on AMNH 2000, a partial skeleton including a skull fragment, numerous vertebrae from all parts of the spine and tail, ossified tendons on the tail, the pectoral girdle and deeply keeled sternum, arms and partial hands, part of the pelvis, parts of both femorae, partial metatarsals, and ribs. This disarticulated but associated specimen was prepared from limestone with acid.

Its remains were collected but not prepared by Barnum Brown in the 1910s, from rocks better known for their fossils of marine life. Ned Colbert, who described it, found it to have had more robust limbs and longer legs than related Rhamphorhynchus, although of a similar size and overall anatomy. He classified it as a rhamphorhynchid.^[1] It is the same animal as James A. Jensen and John Ostrom's Nesodon (1977).^[2] Although there is little overlapping material with contemporaneous Cacibupteryx, the two are clearly different based on details of the elbow and quadrate.^[3] At least one recent review suggests it was a rhamphorhynchid,^[4] while another does not classify it.^[5]

[edit] References

^ Colbert, Edwin H. (1969). "A Jurassic pterosaur from Cuba". American Museum Novitates 2370: 1-26. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
^ Jensen, James A.; and Ostrom, John H. (1977). "A second Jurassic pterosaur from North America". Journal of Paleontology 51 (4): 867-870.
^ Gasparini, Zulma; Fernández, Marta; and de la Fuente, Marcelo (2004). "A new pterosaur from the Jurassic of Cuba". Palaeontology 47 (4): 919-927. DOI:10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00399. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
^ Unwin, David M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. New York: Pi Press, p. 272. ISBN ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
^ Glut, Donald F. (2006). "Nesodactylus", Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. 4th Supplement. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., p. 611. ISBN 0-7864-2295-5.