Name:
Navajodactylus
(Navajo finger).
Phonetic: Nah-vah-ho-dak-tyl-us.
Named By: Robert M. Sullivan & Denver W.
Fowler - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria,
Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae.
Species: N. boerei (type).
Type: Piscivore.
Size: Estimated 3.5 meter wingspan.
Known locations: New Mexico, San Juan Basin -
Kirtland Formation. Canada, Alberta - Dinosaur Park Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial wing fragments.
Navajodactylus
was named in honour of the Navajo Nation with the genus name also
incorporating the Greek 'dactylus' for 'finger', like in many other
pterosaurs.
The species name honours Arjan C. Boer� who discovered the
holotype specimen in the Kirtland Formation back in 2002.
Navajodactylus
has been placed within the azhdarchidae pterosaurs, although so far no
distinctive features of the group have been found in Navajodactylus.
This however is down to the incomplete nature Navajodactylus
fossils.
Navajodactylus is not believed to be synonymous to
any other known
pterosaur because of the construction of the wing phalanx, loosely
termed the hand. In the phalanx it is the connection for the extensor
tendon that is different to other known fossils.
Navajodactylus
has been found in only two locations but the geographical distance of
these locations, New Mexico and Alberta, not only suggests a broad
species range, but also indicates that Navajodactylus
may have lived
upon the fringes of the Western Interior Seaway, which submerged much
of Cretaceous North America between New Mexico and Alberta. This in
turn infers a piscivorous fish eating lifestyle for Navajodactylus.
Further reading
- Navajodactylus boerei, n. gen., n. sp. (Pterosauria, ? Azhdarchidae)
from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (upper Campanian) of New
Mexico. Fossil Record 3. - New Mexico Museum of Natural History and
Science Bulletin 393-404. - R. M. Sullivan and D. W. Fowler - 2011.