| Mesadactylus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Family: | †Anurognathidae |
| Genus: | †Mesadactylus Jensen & Padian, 1989 |
| Species: | †M. ornithosphyos |
| Binomial name | |
| †Mesadactylus ornithosphyos Jensen & Padian, 1989 | |
Mesadactylus ('mesa finger') is an extinctgenus ofpterosaur from theKimmeridgian-Tithonian-ageUpper JurassicMorrison Formation ofColorado, United States. The genus was named in 1989 byJames Jensen andKevin Padian. Thetype species isMesadactylus ornithosphyos.
Theholotype isBYU 2024, asynsacrum of seven sacral vertebrae, featuring a unique—for a pterosaur—complete fusion of the spinae into a supraneural blade, a character, as thespecific name indicates more typical for birds, at first leading Jensen to assign the fossil to a bird,Palaeopteryx.
Further referred associated remains include arms bones,pectoral girdle bones,vertebrae (includingcervix andsacral), andfemora.[1] Additional material was described in 2004 (including a partialbraincase)[2] and 2006; in the latter publication, the authors suggested that its larger contemporaryKepodactylus could be the same animal, although there are minor differences.[3][4]
Jensen and Padian classifiedMesadactylus as a pterodactyloid. In 2007S. Christopher Bennett claimed that the holotype and the referred material came from different forms and that, while the last was indeed of a pterodactyloid nature, the synsacrum belonged to a member of theAnurognathidae.[5]
