| Dimorphodontids | |
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| Skeletal reconstruction ofDimorphodon macronyx,Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Clade: | †Macronychoptera |
| Family: | †Dimorphodontidae Seeley,1870 |
| Genera | |
Dimorphodontidae (ordimorphodontids) is a group of early "rhamphorhynchoid"pterosaurs named afterDimorphodon, that lived in theLate Triassic toEarly Jurassic. While fossils that can be definitively referred to the group are rare, dimorphodontids may have had a broad distribution, with fossils known from the UK, the southwest United States, and possibly Antarctica.[1][2][3]
Dimorphodontidae was named in 1870 byHarry Govier Seeley (as "Dimorphodontae"), withDimorphodon as the only known member.[4] In 2003,David Unwin defined aclade Dimorphodontidae, as the group consisting of the last common ancestor ofDimorphodon macronyx andPeteinosaurus zambellii, and all its descendants.[5] However, later studies found thatDimorphodon may not be closely related toPeteinosaurus, so this definition of Dimorphodontidae would therefore be superfluous.
In 2014, Brian Andres and colleagues defined another clade,Dimorphodontia, as a replacement for Dimorphodontidae. Dimorphodontia would include all pterosaurs more closely related toDimorphodon than toPterodactylus. According to the analysis published by Andreset al., Dimorphodontia is also a small group, including onlyDimorphodon andParapsicephalus.[6]
In 2018, a close relative ofDimorphodon was described from the Late Triassic of North America by Britt and colleagues, and was namedCaelestiventus. This discovery expanded the geographic, temporal and also the ecological range of dimorphodontids, as it was discovered in the Late TriassicNugget Sandstone in Utah, which was a desert at the time. Britt and colleagues also redefined Dimorphodontidae as the least inclusive clade containingDimorphodon macronyx andCaelestiventus hanseni.[2]
Authority control databases: National |
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