Dimorphodon
| Dimorphodon Temporal range: Early Jurassic (Sinemurian), | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction skeleton in flying pose at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Clade: | †Macronychoptera |
| Family: | †Dimorphodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Dimorphodontinae Seeley, 1870 |
| Genus: | †Dimorphodon Owen, 1859 |
| Type species | |
| †Dimorphodon macronyx (Buckland, 1829) | |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Dimorphodon /daɪˈmɔːrfədɒn/ was a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from Europe during the early Jurassic Period (about 201-191 million years ago). It was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1859. Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth", derived from the Greek δι (di) meaning "two", μορφη (morphe) meaning "shape" and οδων (odon) meaning "tooth", referring to the fact that it had two distinct types of teeth in its jaws – which is comparatively rare among reptiles. The diet of Dimorphodon has been questioned among researchers, with earlier interpretations depicting it as an insectivore or a piscivore. Recent studies have suggested that Dimorphodon likely hunted small vertebrates, though it still would have consumed soft invertebrates like insects.