Earlier we looked at several clades of pterosaur finger morphologies. Find them here, here, here, here, here and here. Today we’ll look at various Pterodactylus species (Fig. 1), their tiny predecessors and their tiny cousins preceding Germanodactylus (which we’ll consider next).
Figure 1. Pterosaur fingers, Scaphognathus to Pterodactylus and other tiny pterosaurs
Gmu 10157 – The metatarsus was longer. The digits were shorter. Ungual 1.1 was larger. Compare to the outgroup taxon, Scaphognathus (Maxburg specimen).
Ornithocephalus – The digits and unguals were smaller. Digits 1 and 2 were relatively smaller. Manual 3.1 was longer. Manual 2.2 was shorter.
No 9 – Th digits were larger and more robust.
No 31– The digits were smaller and more gracile. Manual 3.2 was as long as m3.3.
Ningchengopterus – The digits were larger, nearly as long as the metacarpus. Metacarpal 1 was the longest. Manual 3.2 was shorter.
Pterodactylus AMNH 1942, no 20 – Metacarpal 1 was shorter. The digits were relatively shorter.
Pterodactylus NHMW1975 – Manual 3.2 was longer.
Pterodactylus scolapaciceps No 21 – Ungual 3 was smaller.
Pterodactylus (Frey and Tischlinger private specimen) – The digits were smaller and more gracile.
Pterodactylus antiquus (holotype) no. 4 – The metacarpus was more gracile.
Diopecephalus, Pterodactylus longicollum, no. 58 – The digits are unknown. The metacarpus was relatively twice as long.
No 6 – Compare to the outgroup taxon No 31. The digits were more robust and slightly larger.
BMNH 47236 – The unguals were more trenchant.
No 12 – The digits were longer. The unguals were less trenchant. Manual 3.1 was longer.
No 23 – Manual 2.2 was shorter.
As always, I encourage readers to see specimens, make observations and come to your own conclusions. Test. Test. And test again.
Evidence and support in the form of nexus, pdf and jpeg files will be sent to all who request additional data.
