Raeticodactylus

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Raeticodactylus Fossil range: Late Triassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Order: Pterosauria Genus: Raeticodactylus Stecher, 2008
Species
R. filisurensis Stecher, 2008 (type)

Raeticodactylus is a genus of non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from the late Norian-early Rhaetian-age Upper Triassic lower Kössen Formation of the central Austroalpine of Grisons, Switzerland. It is known from a single disarticulated partial skeleton including an almost complete skull. This genus was described in 2008 by Rico Stecher; the type species is R. filisurensis.^[1]

Raeticodactylus had a tall thin bony crest running along the midline of the front of the upper jaw, and a keel on the lower jaw; however, it does not seem to be closely related to Austriadactylus, the only other crested Triassic pterosaur named by the time Raeticodactylus was described. The teeth at the front of the upper jaw, in the premaxillae, were fanglike, whereas the teeth in the upper cheeks (the maxillae) had three, four, or five cusps, similar to those of Eudimorphodon. Raeticodactylus had a wingspan of about 135 centimeters (53 in), and may have been a piscivore, potentially feeding by skimming the water.^[1]

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