Arthurdactylus conandoylei

Named after Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, author of the novel the "Lost World" featuring prehistoric animals, this large pterosaur is known from an almost complete skeleton partially disarticulated lacking the skull, the neck and the sternum from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It had an unusually short body, realtively long wing fingers and slender hindlimbs.

Name

Arthurdactylus conandoylei

Authority

Frey and Martill, 1994

Meaning of generic name

Arthur's Finger

[When a name ends in "finger" / "dactylus" it usually is short for "wing finger" = "pterodactylus"]

Meaning of specific name

of Conan Doyle

Size

Wingspan: 4.6 m

Remains

Nearly complete postcranial skeleton.

Age and Distribution

Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous, Aptian), Ceará, Brazil.

Classification

Pterosauria Pterodactyloidea Ornithocheiroidea Ornithocheirididae

Further Reading

Frey, E. & Martill, D. M. 1994, A new Pterosaur from the Crato Formation (Lower Creatceous, Aptian) of Brazil. Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Paläontology, Abhandlungen. 194, 379–412.