Austriadactylus cristatus (Dalla Vecchia et al. 2002) Norian, Late Triassic, ~210 mya, was the largest known Triassic pterosaur. Derived from a sister to Raeticodactylus, Austriadactylus was a phylogenetic predecessor to the much smaller Austriadactylus from Italy (SC 332466).
Distinct from Raeticodactylus, the skull of Austriadactylus had a larger naris and smaller antorbital fenestra. The premaxillary crest ran the length of the premaxilla and included the nasal. The quadrate was rotated to vertical. The anterior two premaxillary teeth, a number of maxillary teeth and two dentary teeth were enlarged to fangs. Some of the maxillary teeth had serrations.
The cervicals were shorter.
The pubis and ischium were not ventrally separate. Relative to the pelvis size, the hind limbs were as long as in MPUM 6009, but the pelvis was very small relative to the skull and torso.
Dalla Vecchia (2009) assigned a much smaller Italian pterosaur to Austriadactylus, despite several differences. |