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Raeticodactylus filisurensis by ~Archosaurian:iconArchosaurian:


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Submitted: April 11, 2008
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UPDATE: What I thought were basal tail vertebrae are in fact dorsal vertebrae, as denoted in the original description. The confusion was resolved with a higher quality photo I recently found.

Introducing the mind-bogglingly bizarre new pterosaur from the Swiss Alps! Behold Raeticodactylus filisurensis! Prepare to be boggled!

Note: There is some suspicion it might belong to Caviramus, an equally weird pterosaur genus known only from bits of lower jaw, but what an odd little jaw it is! After looking at both taxa it seems that the two are generically distinct, but they likely are very close relatives, belonging to the same unnamed clade of ultra-weird basal pterosaurs.

I'm also a bit uncomfortable about how the legs are positioned, the legs in this thing appear to have been completely erect as opposed to outward-facing in other pterosaurs so it may not have had the range of motion necessary to spread the legs out in flight as in other pterosaurs. Still, it likely had a uropatagium since there is a fragmentary specimen of a pterosaur with a similarly structured leg that preserves impressions of one.
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WOAH!! I hadn't heard of this one before! What is it related to?
Nobody is really sure about its relations, it may belong to a new clade of basal pterosaurs.

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Hi,
I ask me why I cannot see the large version of the picture. Always I choice the larger version there is only a grey picture?
Perhaps somebody know why this is so.
Odd... that doesn't happen for me, it could be a browser problem, what browser do you use?

Here is another link to the picture, I uploaded it to my website: [link]

Let me know what you think!

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Hi Archosaurian

I have the "Internet Explorer".
It is not only a problem with this picture. With some other pictures of you there is the same problem. The picture is very well. I have seen it with the link, but there the quality is not so high like other pictures you have here.

But thank you very much!
Ah. Internet Explorer is known for being notoriously poor at supporting PNG images, which I prefer to use for skeletal reconstructions since they allow for high-quality, lossless images with relatively small file sizes. It could be some problem relating to that. I'd recommend trying out Firefox, Opera or Safari, hopefully that may solve the problem.

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OK, I will try it!

Thank you for your help!
Have a nice time!
You do amazing work! This guy is awesome, he looks like a cross between a can opener, dimorphidon, and a blue dragon from DnD. That nasal projection is so classy, and the bottom jaw just looks viscious. The little toes' configuration looks totally uncomfortable though, I wince at it. :P

What do you mean when you say the phrase 'basal pterosaurs?'

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... So Says JoH. :pirate:
Non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs had long, specialised fifth toes that likely supported the uropatagium and had a different range of motion from the rest of the toes. The term basal pterosaur essentially means closer to the common ancestor of all pterosaurs with respect to other pterosaurs. the term basal is more suitable than the term primitive since the first only refers to phylogenetic positioning while the other suggests a degree of advancement.

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