Austriadactylus
Name:
Austriadactylus
(Austria finger).
Phonetic: Oss-tre-ah-dak-tyl-us.
Named By: F. M. Dalla Vecchia, R. Wild,
H. Hopf & J. Reitner - 2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Campylognathoididae.
Species: A. cristatus (type).
Type: Uncertain as teeth are adaptable to a variety
of prey types.
Size: Estimated 1.2 meter wingspan.
Known locations: Austria, Tyrol, Ankerschlag
- Seefelder Beds. Italy.
Time period: Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Single partial skeleton on a
slab, Second specimen from Italy.
Austriadactylus
was at the larger end of the scale for Triassic pterosaurs,
although
it was still tiny if you compare it to the much later giants like
Quetzalcoatlus
that lived towards the end of the Cretaceous. Quite a
unique feature for Austriadactylus however is its
head crest which rose
up two centimetres from the tip of the snout, continuing until just
above the eyes. The fact the crest is present is also interesting in
itself when you consider that display crests did not become common in
pterosaurs until the end of the Jurassic with the appearance of the
advanced pterosaurs of the pterodactyloidea.
Only
the teeth of the upper jaw are known for Austriadactylus
and not only
are there possibly over seventy teeth, but they are of different
types. The largest teeth were fang like and were presumably for the
purpose of prey capture with largest towards the front and smaller
versions towards the rear of the mouth. Between these are the more
numerous tricuspid teeth. Tricuspid teeth are so called because they
have three points and are more suitable for slicing. It is hard to
infer a specific prey specialisation for varying teeth like this, but
given its large size, Austriadactylus may have
focused upon fish or
even small terrestrial lizards and amphibian as opposed to insects. The
tail of Austriadactylus was still flexible,
lacking the stiffening
modifications that would be common in their successive descendants,
the rhamphorhyncoid pterosaurs.
A
second fossil specimen from Italy was assigned to Austriadactylus
in
2009, although there appears to be several differences between this
and the holotype which has led to some questioning its inclusion into
the genus. Because of similarities to Eudimorphodon
the suggestion
has been made that Austriadactylus is synonymous to
it.
Further reading
- A crested rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Late Triassic of
Austria. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22 (1): 196-199. - F. M.
Dalla Vecchia, R. Wild, H. Hopf & J. Reitner - 2002.
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