Dimorphodon

▪ paleontology

      primitive flying reptiles (reptile) found as fossils in European deposits from the Early Jurassic Period (200 million to 176 million years ago). Dimorphodon is among the earliest known pterosaurs (pterosaur), an extinct group of reptiles related to the dinosaurs. It was about a metre (3.3 feet) long and had a wingspan of about 1.7 metres.

      The head was very lightly built but large and deep; the skull had several wide openings; and the eyes were large. In the front of Dimorphodon's jaws were several large pointed teeth, but in the back there were many smaller ones. The limbs were well developed, and, like its ancestors (which were closely related to the first dinosaurs), it probably walked on two legs. The wings consisted of thin membranes of skin stretching from the enormously elongated fourth finger of each hand rearward to the hip or hind limbs. On the ground, the animal probably folded its wings in the manner of present-day birds (bird) and bats (bat). The first three fingers of each hand were well developed, with large claws that were probably used for grasping.

      Dimorphodon, like other early pterosaurs, had a long tail that probably helped stabilize it during flight. It also had a large breastbone and a large crest on the humerus to which the powerful flight muscles were attached. Like all but the largest pterosaurs, Dimorphodon was well suited for flapping flight.

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