Eudimorphodon ranzii Zambelli, 1973

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 44

Eudimorphodon ranzii Zambelli, 1973

(fig. 12A)

AGE: Mid-late Norian, Late Triassic ( Dalla Vecchia, 2003).

OCCURRENCE: Uppermost part of the Calcare di Zorzino, near Cene, Italy.

HOLOTYPE: MCSNB 2888, complete skull, articulated postcranium missing the caudal region, pelvis, and most of the hind limbs.

REFERRED MATERIAL: MCSNB 8950, articulated skeleton missing the skull and tail; MCSNB 3496, partial skeleton, foot, pelvis.

REMARKS: Eudimorphodon was the first pterosaur to be described from the Triassic and was named from a largely articulated specimen including a nearly complete skull. Nearly all pterosaur workers found Eudimorphodon within the Campylognathoididae ( Kellner, 2003; Unwin, 2003; Dalla Vecchia, 2009; but see Andres et al., 2010), outside Rhamphorhynchidae + Pterodactyloidea. The divergent morphology of the dentition and skull bones, Triassic age, and the relatively derived position within Jurassic pterosaur clades illustrates that much of the early evolution of Pterosauria remains hidden. Here, I score most characters from the holotype, and a few other characters (pelvis, foot, sternum) are scored from MCSNB 8950 and MCSNB 3496.

KEY REFERENCES: Wild, 1978; Dalla Vecchia, 2003; Wellnhofer, 2003.