Name:
Arthurdactylus
(Arthur's Finger).
Phonetic: Ar-fur-dak-tyl-us.
Named By: Eberhard Frey and David Martill - 1994.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria,
Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiridae.
Species: A. conandoylei (type).
Type: Unknown due to lack of skull.
Size: 4.6 meter wingspan.
Known locations: Brazil - Crato Formation.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete post cranial
remains.
Arthurdactylus
conandoylei was named after the author Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, and
while he is most famous for writing the Sherlock Holmes stories, he
also wrote The Lost World. For those not familiar
with the story it is
about a group of explorers who discover a plateau in South America
where dinosaurs and pterosaurs are still alive. There have also been
several film and television adaptations of the original story as well.
It
is hard to say how Arthurdactylus lived as the
skull is missing, and
the lifestyles of pterosaurs are usually revealed by the study of their
dentition and skull shape. However Arthurdactylus
seems to almost
certainly to have been at home in the air than most other pterosaurs as
evidenced by its exceptionally long wing fingers. These large wings
also seem to have formed at the expense of the legs which are quite
underdeveloped when compared to other pterosaurs.
Despite
the lack of skull, Arthurdactylus has been assigned
to the
ornithocheirid pterosaurs, a group that appears to have been
exclusively piscivorous (fish eaters). Still without the skull not only
is it hard to imply this diet for Arthurdactylus,
but it is also hard
to suggest if it had similar head crests as some members like
Ornithocheirus
itself did.
Further reading
- A new Pterosaur from the Crato Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Aptian)
of Brazil. - Neues Jahrbuch f�r Geologie und Pal�ontologie,
Abhandlungen 194: 379–412. - E. Frey & D. M. Martill - 1994.