A new species of the ctenochasmatid pterosaur genus Petrodactyle has been described from an unusual specimen found in the Late Jurassic limestone beds of the Solnhofen Archipelago, Germany.
Petrodactyle wellnhoferi lived in what is now Germany approximately 145 million years ago (Late Jurassic epoch).
The flying reptile was a member of Ctenochasmatidae, a group of pterosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous periods.
Petrodactyle wellnhoferi had one of the largest bony crests of any Jurassic pterosaur.
“Many pterosaurs are known with bony crests which they used primarily as sexual signals to other members of the species, but Pterodactyle has by far the largest crest even seen in a ctenochasmatid,” said Dr. David Hone, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University of London.
“Big though this crest is, we know that these pterosaurs had skin-like extensions attached to it, so in life Petrodactyle would have had an even larger crest.”
Petrodactyle wellnhoferi had long jaws with an unusual combination of short and spike-like teeth.
However, unlike most other ctenochasmatids, this pterosaur had an expansion at the back of the skull to attach large jaw muscles and give it a stronger bite than many of its contemporaries.
The animal was potentially a piscivore catching small fish, but also likely cephalopods, small crustaceans, and even hatchling dinosaurs.
“Ctenochasmatoids were primarily carnivorous animals typically taking small prey, frequently as filter feeders, but there is also evidence of some like Pterodactylus eating fish, which lack the extremely numerous teeth and laterally expanded jaw tips of filter feeders such as Gnathosaurus or Ctenochasma,” the paleontologists said.
“Petrodactyle does not have the closely packed, numerous, and elongate teeth of filter feeders, but instead their teeth are widely spaced as well as being short and much fewer in number.”
“This pattern suggests that they did not act as filter…
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