Dimorphodon macronyx ( Buckland, 1829 )

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 43-44

Dimorphodon macronyx ( Buckland, 1829) , sensu Owen, 1870 5 Pterodactylus macronyx Buckland, 1829

AGE: Hettangian-Sinemurian, Early Jurassic ( Hallam, 1960).

OCCURRENCE: Lower Lias, Lyme Regis, Dorset, England.

HOLOTYPE: BMNH R1034, nearly complete skull and skeleton.

REFERRED MATERIAL: BMNH R 1035, much of a skull and skeleton; BMNH 41212, postcrania; YPM 350, partial skeleton; YPM 9182, partial skeleton (see Padian, 1983).

REMARKS: Dimorphodon is one of the oldest pterosaurs known from well-preserved material. In the most recent pterosaur phylogenies, Dimorphodon (or Dimorphodontidae ) was found as one of the basalmost taxa either outside Anurognathidae + Pterodactyloidea ( Unwin, 2003) or outside Campylognathoididae + Pterodactyloidea ( Kellner, 2003). Some of the material assigned to Dimorphodon is three-dimensionally prepared, which is rare among basal pterosaurs. This permits unprecedented examination of the ankle, femur, metatarsals, proximal tarsals, humerus, and tibia and fibula ( Padian, 1983).

KEY REFERENCES: Buckland, 1829; Owen, 1870; Padian, 1983; Unwin, 1988.