#germanodactylus

Ancient paleojunk I did when I was 13 in early 2016. Obvious Cicchetti, Smaniotto and Martyniuk inspiration here. I'm glad to see my love of raptorial avisaurs ended up being vindicated. Someday everyone else will love opposite-birds just as much as I do.

By Julio Lacerda, on @paleoart, retrieved from http://www.pteros.com/, a website dedicated to education about Pterosaurs.

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Name: Germanodactylus cristatus, G. rhamphastinus

Name Meaning: German Finger

First Described: 1964

Described By: Yang

Classification: Avemetatarsalia, Ornithodira, Pterosauromorpha, Pterosauria, Macronychoptera, Novialoidea, Breviquartossa, Pterodactylomorpha, Monofenestrata, Pterodactyliformes, Caelidracones, Pterodactyloidea, Archaeopterodactyloidea, Germanodactylidae  

Germanodactylus is a Pterodactyloid that gave its name to a small group of them more closely related to Germanodactylus than to other pterosaurs, such as Pterodactylus itself. It is known from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany, living in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic, about 145 million years ago. It had a wingspan of about 1 to 1.08 meters, and a very long skull of about 21 centimeters. Germanodactylus had a notable hea crest, with a bony portion on the midline of the skull and soft tissue that doubled the height of the crest itself. This actually indicates that other tissues may have also had soft tissue extension to their crests, though it is not always preserved. 

By Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY-SA 3.0

Germanodactylus was probably a fish eating pterosaur in its marine environment, with a sharply pointed jaw and quite a few teeth. The genus was originally a wastebasket taxon, however has since been more straightened out with only two species assigned to the genus - though, ironically, both of these species originally belonged to other genera first. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanodactylus

http://www.pteros.com/pterosaurs/germanodactylus.html

Have been studying Wittons book on Pterosaurs this week. I admittedly havent reached chapter 7 yet, but what I read so far amazed me enough to give it a try. Here is my take on Germanodactylus How did I do? Progress picture:

Thank you for sharing!