Austriadactylus

Updated 02 12 2021

Name: Austriadactylus.
Meaning of name: Austria finger.
Species: cristatus.  
Classification: Pterosauria,  Campylognathoididae or Eudimorphodontidae?
Time period: Norian stage of the Late Triassic.
Distribution: Austria & Italy.
Wingspan: 1.2m
Lifestyle: Piscivore?

 

Austriadactylus may have had a more terrestrial diet than aquatic so I have given it a more versatile brown colour scheme.

 

Uropatagium 2
Early pterosaurs had their hind limbs bound together by a membrane (Uropatagium). According to the fossil record this was a wide structure indicating their thighs splayed laterally during flight. Apart from the obvious aerodynamic advantages it meant that when walking their feet were much closer together than in flight, the excess membrane permitting a reasonable stride length. If their thighs pointed straight back during flight the Uropatagium would have been so narrow that they would have had the walking ability of a person with their pants around their ankles!