Muzquizopteryx
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Muzquizopteryx Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 85.8 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Pteranodontia |
| Family: | †Nyctosauridae |
| Genus: |
†Muzquizopteryx Frey et al., 2006 |
| Type species | |
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Muzquizopteryx coahuilensis Frey et al., 2006 |
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Muzquizopteryx is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur (flying reptile) from the Late Cretaceous of what is now Coahuila, Mexico.
Muzquizopteryx was relatively small for a pterodactyloid pterosaur, with a wingspan of around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). It had an elongated head with a convex upper profile, ending at the back of the head in a backward pointing short rounded crest. The jaws were toothless. The arms were very robust with the humerus featuring a large hatchet-shaped deltopectoral crest, indicating a strong wing musculature. The pteroid bone was long and pointed towards the neck, supporting a flight membrane.
In the 1990s, José Martínez Vásquez, a worker at the chalk quarry of El Rosario, uncovered a skeleton of a pterosaur. This he handed to a quarry official, who had it bricked in on the face of an office wall as a decorative piece. After its unique scientific value had been recognised in 2002, the specimen was acquired by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Subsequently it was studied by a combined team of the University of Karlsruhe and the Desert Museum and scientifically reported in 2004.
In 2006 the type species Muzquizopteryx coahuilensis was named and described by Eberhard Frey, Marie-Céline Buchy, Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, Arturo González-González and Alfredo di Stefano. The generic name is derived from the Múzquiz district and a Greek πτέρυξ, pteryx, "wing". The specific name is derived from the state of Coahuila.
Muzquizopteryx is based on holotype UNAM IGM 8621, found in the El Rosario layers, early Coniacian-aged rocks. It consists of a nearly complete, articulated skeleton that includes soft tissue remains, among them long fossilised tendons along both sides of both lower arms. The specimen represents an adult individual.
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