| Nesodactylus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Family: | †Rhamphorhynchidae |
| Subfamily: | †Rhamphorhynchinae |
| Genus: | †Nesodactylus Colbert, 1969 |
| Type species | |
| †Nesodactylus hesperius Colbert, 1969 | |
Nesodactylus was agenus ofrhamphorhynchidpterosaur from the middle-lateOxfordian age[1]Upper JurassicJagua Formation ofPinar del Río, westernCuba.
Its remains were collected but not prepared byBarnum Brown in 1918, from rocks better known for their fossils of marine life. When seven black chalkstone blocks were prepared from 1966 byRichard Lund by dissolving the substrate inacid, this revealed the remains of a pterosaur.
Ned Colbert described and named the genus in 1969. Thetype species isNesodactylus hesperius. The genus name is derived from Greeknesos, "island" anddaktylos, "finger", a reference to the island of Cuba and the typical wing finger of pterosaurs. Thespecific name means "western", from Greekhesperios.
The genus is based onholotypeAMNH 2000, a partial skeleton including a skull fragment, numerousvertebrae from all parts of the spine andtail,zygapophyses (interpreted by Colbert as ossifiedtendons) on the tail, thepectoral girdle and a very deeply keeledsternum, arms and partial hands, part of thepelvis, parts of bothfemora, partialmetatarsals, and ribs. The specimen was disarticulated but associated and not very compressed; during the preparation from thelimestone with acid, the bones were not completely removed.
Colbert foundNesodactylus to have had longer wings and more robust limbs and longer legs than relatedRhamphorhynchus, although of a similar size and overall anatomy. He classified it as arhamphorhynchid and more precisely as a member of theRhamphorhynchinae.[2]
In 1977James A. Jensen andJohn Ostrom by mistake referred to it asNesodon (1977).[3] Although there is little overlapping material with contemporaneousCacibupteryx, the two are clearly different based on details of theelbow andquadrate.[4] At least one recent review suggests it was a rhamphorhynchine,[5] while another does not classify it.[6]
