#rhamphinion

Guess whose obsessed with dinosaurs!

Pterosaur Rhamphinion jenkinsi, of Early Jurassic, Arizona, USA!

Rhamphinion jenkinsi is a small, mysterious pterosaur from the Early Jurassic of North America. It is a highly fragmentary fossil, and thus hard to place on the pterosaur tree of life, but was nevertheless the oldest pterosaur known from the Western Hemisphere (before the discovery of Caelestiventus). Because of its fragmentary nature, not much is known about Rhamphinion.

Rhamphinion jenkinsi was found in the Kayenta Formation, which is perhaps most famous for its apex predator: Dilophosaurus. This was a seasonally changing environment, a river oasis where conifers lined the waterways and provided protection from the dry, sandy desert beyond. Aside from Dilophosaurus, Rhamphinion could have run into other theropods like Kayentavenator and Coelophysis, the basal sauropodomorph Sarahsaurus, basal thyreophorans like Scutellosaurus and Scelidosaurus, crocodylomorphs like Kayentasuchus, Eopneumatosuchus, and Calsoyasuchus, turtles like Kayentachelys, rhynchocephalians like Navajosphenodon, and amphibians like Prosalirus and Eocaecilia.

I chose Rhamphinion for Archovember this year as I wanted to draw some more representatives from the Kayenta Formation and, even though it’s fragmentary, Rhamphinion is thus far the Kayenta’s only named pterosaur. Imagine my surprise when I saw it cameo in Dead Sound’s new animation, “Hunted by Moonlight”, only a few days after I publicly published my Archovember list! To my knowledge, this is the first media representation of Rhamphinion. Check it out if you haven’t yet!

Sinopterus, Domeykodactylus, Archaeoistiodactylus, Dawndraco, Arambourgiania, Rhamphinion, Nyctosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Bakonydraco, and Dsungaripterus.