Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic
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Kepodactylus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado, United States.
In 1992, a team from the Denver Museum of Natural History dug up a specimen of the dinosaur "Stegosaurus stenops" in Garden Park, Colorado. In the quarry they also found smaller disarticulated bones from other animals, among which were those of a pterosaur new to science.
In 1996, Jerald Harris and Kenneth Carpenter named the new genus. The type species is "Kepodactylus insperatus". The genus name is derived from Greek, "kepos", "garden", a reference to Garden Park and "daktylos", "finger", referring to the typical wing finger of pterosaurs. The specific name means "unhoped-for" in Latin, alluding to the fact that the researchers hoped to find a dinosaur, and did not expect a pterosaur.
The genus is based on the holotype DMNH 21684, consisting of a cervical vertebra, humerus, several finger bones, and a metatarsal. "Kepodactylus" was similar to "Mesadactylus" but larger (wingspan around 2.5 m [8.2 ft]), and with additional pneumatic foramina (holes to allow air from air sacks to enter the bones) in the vertebrae and humerus. The describers concluded that the species was a member of the Pterodactyloidea and within this group, using the phylogeny of David Unwin, a member of a clade that is now known as Lophocratia. It was regarded as a potentially valid genus in the most recent review of Morrison pterosaurs.
Classification.
The cladogram below shows a phylogenetic analysis published by Longrich, Martill, and Andres in 2018. They recovered "Kepodactylus" as a basal member of the family Ctenochasmatidae.
References.
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