Genus
Valid Extinct

Dorygnathus

Wagner 1860
Etymology mâchoire en lance

Dorygnathus was a genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur that lived in Europe during the Early Jurassic period, when shallow seas flooded much of the continent. It had a short wingspan around 1.5 meters, and a relatively small triangular sternum, which is where its flight muscles attached. Its skull was long and its eye sockets were the largest opening therein. Large curved fangs that "intermeshed" when the jaws closed featured prominently at the front of the snout while smaller, straighter teeth lined the back.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
37
Group
Ptérosaures
Piscivore Volant Marine
Dorygnathus
click to enlarge
A cast of the pterosaur Dorygnathus banthensis at Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden. © Gunnar Creutz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
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Classification
Pterosauria Order
›
Macronychoptera Unranked clade
›
Novialoidea Unranked clade
›
Breviquartossa Unranked clade
›
Rhamphorhynchidae Family
›
Rhamphorhynchinae Subfamily
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Dorygnathus Genus
Fossil sites 37 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇩🇪 Germany
35
🇫🇷 France
2
Geological formations
Posidonia Shale
34
Marne de Flize
1
Posidonienschiefer
1
Temporal distribution
Toarcian (184.2–174.7 Ma)
37
Species (2)
Dorygnathus banthensis 184 Ma
Dorygnathus mistelgauensis subjective synonym of Dorygnathus banthensis 184 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution.
Bibliography (6)
E. Buffetaut, B. Gibout, and D. Drouin. 2010. A pterosaur from the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) of the Ardennes (northeastern France). Carnets de Géologie/Notebooks on Geology 2010/01:1-6 DOI ↗
K. Padian. 2008. The Early Jurassic pterosaur Dorygnathus banthensis (Theodori, 1830). Special Papers in Palaeontology 80:1-64
D. Delsate and R. Wild. 2000. Premiere decouverte d'un reptile volant determinable (Pterosauria, Dorygnathus cf banthensis) du Toarcien inferieur (Jurassique inferieur) de Nancy (Lorraine, France). Bulletin de l'Académie et de la Societé Lorraine des Sciences 39(1-4):3-14
K. Padian and R. Wild. 1992. Studies of Liassic Pterosauria, I. The holotype and referred specimens of the Liassic pterosaur Dorygnathus banthensis (Theodori) in the Petrefaktensammlung Banz, northern Bavaria. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 225:59-77
P. Wellnhofer and B.-W. Vahldiek. 1986. Ein Flugsaurier-Rest aus dem Posidonienschiefer (Unter-Toarcium) von Schandelah bei Braunschweig. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 60:329-340 DOI ↗
R. Wild. 1971. Dorygnathus mistelgauensis n. sp., ein neuer Flugsaurier aus dem Lias Epsilon von Mistelgau (Fränkischer Jura). Geologische Blätter für Nordost-Bayern und angrenzende Gebiete 21(4):178-195