Caelestiventus
Genus of pterosaur from the Late Triassic / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Caelestiventus (/səˌlɛstɪˈvɛntəs/ sə-LES-tih-VEN-təs, meaning "heavenly wind") is a pterosaur genus from the Late Triassic (Norian or Rhaetian) found in western North America.[1] The type species, Caelestiventus hanseni, honors Robin Hansen, the Bureau of Land Management geologist (BLM), who facilitated access to the excavation site.
Caelestiventus | |
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3D printed skull reconstruction; the dip in the forehead is perhaps too pronounced | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Clade: | †Macronychoptera |
Family: | †Dimorphodontidae |
Genus: | †Caelestiventus Britt et al., 2018 |
Type species | |
†Caelestiventus hanseni Britt et al., 2018 |
Caelestiventus is important because it is the sole example of a desert-dwelling non-pterodactyloid pterosaur and is 65 million years older than other known desert-dwelling pterosaurs. Additionally, it shows that even the earliest pterosaurs were morphologically and ecologically diverse and that the Dimorphodontidae originated in the Triassic period.[1]