Bakonydraco
Name:
Bakonydraco
(Bakony dragon).
Phonetic: Bah-coe-ny-dray-ko.
Named By: Atilla Ősi, David Weishampel &
Jianu Coralia - 2005.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae, Tapejaridae..
Species: B. galaczi (type).
Type: Uncertain as the incomplete remains point to a
wide variety of feeding styles.
Size: 3.5 to 4 meter wingspan.
Known locations: Hungary, Veszpr�m County,
Bakony Mountains - Csehb�nya Formation.
Time period: Santonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Based upon a partial
mandible (lower jaw). A symphysis, the part where both halves
of the lower jaw are fused together at the front has also been
attributed to Bakonydraco. Partial material
composed of cervical
(neck) vertebrae and wing bones have also been found in proximity to
the original find, and may also belong to Bakonydraco.
To
date not much can be revealed about Bakonydraco
other than it was
almost certainly an azdarchid pterosaur.
Bakonydraco
did
still differ from many other azdarchids however by having what appears
to have been a tall, deep beak. This has implied a possibly
piscivorous specialisation as opposed to a more general carnivore. It
has also been suggested that Bakonydraco may have
also been a
frugivore, feeding upon the fruit from plants.
Another
potential specialisation can be seen in the way that the lower jaw came
together towards the tip. The mandible of Bakonydraco
is made up of
two halves like in other pterosaurs, and indeed most other
creatures, but the front half is fused together. When fused the
halves also become laterally compressed giving Bakonydraco
a flattened
'spear tip' appearance to its front jaw. It is hard to see with
certainty how this adaptation helped Bakonydraco as
its function is
more down to how you interpret it. If Bakonydraco
ate fish, the
narrow jaw would have reduced water resistance allowing for faster and
more precise strikes at prey. Alternatively if Bakonydraco
was a
frugivore the narrow jaw may have allowed Bakonydraco
to pick fruit
without the bulk of a larger beak pushing branches out of reach.
Further reading
- First evidence of azhdarchid pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of
Hungary. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 50 (4): 777–787. Retrieved
2009-07-28. - Attila �si, David B. Weishampel & Coralia M.
Jianu - 2005.
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