''Navajodactylus'' (meaning "Navajo finger") is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
pterodactyloid pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...
from
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(late
Campanian stage) deposits of the
San Juan Basin
The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin located near the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. The basin covers 7,500 square miles and resides in northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and parts of Utah a ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Discovery
The holotype specimen of ''Navajodactylus'' was discovered and collected by
oceanographer Arjan C. Boeré from the
Kirtland Formation in 2002. ''Navajodactylus'' was first named by Robert M. Sullivan and Denver W. Fowler in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is ''Navajodactylus boerei''. The
generic name honors the
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
, combining their name with a Greek δάκτυλος, ''daktylos'', "finger". The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
honors Arjan C. Boeré.
''Navajodactylus'' is based on the
holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...
SMP VP-1445, from the Hunter Wash Member of the
Kirtland Formation, San Juan Basin, dating to the upper Campanian, about 75 million years old. It consists of three pieces of the first phalanx of the wing finger. The
paratype is SMP VP-1853, an ulna fragment. Two first phalanges,
TMP TMP can refer to any of the following:
Chemistry
* 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine, an organic chemistry reagent
* Thymidine monophosphate, a nucleotide
* Trimethoprim, an antibiotic
* Trimethyl phosphate, a solvent
* Trimethylolpropane, a precurso ...
72.1.1 and TMP 82.19.295, both from the
Dinosaur Park Formation of the Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, were referred to this taxon,
[ but in 2019, Hone ''et al.'' recognized these as referable to their new azhdarchid '']Cryodrakon
''Cryodrakon'' ("cold dragon") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Canada. It contains a single species, ''Cryodrakon boreas'', recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation.
Discovery an ...
''.
Description
''Navajodactylus'' was a medium-sized pterosaur, with an estimated wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
of 3.5 meters (11.5 ft). Its autapomorphies largely exist in the unique form of the process on the first wing phalanx for the extensor tendon.[
]
Systematics
''Navajodactylus'' was tentatively assigned to the family Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cret ...
because of its geological age, however, it does not show any synapomorphies
In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...
of the group.[ Indeed, it may not actually be an azhdarchid, as it lacks pneumacy in its forelimb elements, which is opposed to the extensive pneumacy seen in azhdarchids.][Wilton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. ]Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
. .
See also
* List of pterosaur genera
* Timeline of pterosaur research
References
{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, United States
Azhdarchids
Late Cretaceous pterosaurs of North America
Fossil taxa described in 2011