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Small pterosaurs and dinosaurs from the Uncompahgre fauna (Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation: ?Tithonian), Late Jurassic, western Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

James A. Jensen  and
Kevin Padian
James A. Jensen
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
Kevin Padian
Affiliation:
Department of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley 94720
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Abstract

Small vertebrates were recovered from the matrix encasing specimens of giant sauropod dinosaurs (Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus, Dystylosaurus) collected from the “Dry Mesa” Quarry (Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation, western Colorado). Most of the remains appear to pertain to a single form of pterodactyloid pterosaur, Mesadactylus ornithosphyos, n. gen. and sp., the holotype of which is a synsacrum. A bone end from this quarry, first identified as an avian proximal tibia and named Palaeopteryx thomsoni, is reidentified as the distal radius of a small deinonychosaur or bird. A small femur of a small deinonychosaur or bird and additional material of other small vertebrates from this quarry are figured and described.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , May 1989 , pp. 364 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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