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Description
To understand the generic name of this pterosaur ("toy finger"), one has to look back at a far simpler time where, whenever prehistoric animals showed up in pop culture such as Saturday Morning cartoons or comics, the authors did zero research and just drew them from memory. When it came to pterosaurs, given that the two most profilic taxa during the 20th century, Pteranodon and Rhamphorhynchus, represent two very, very, very distant branches of Pterosauria, we often got chimeric portrayals that combined the large size and distinct head-crest of the Late Cretaceous Pteranodon longiceps (the males anyway) with the gnarly teeth and (though not always) long, veined tail of Rhamphorhynchus, which, combined with nudism and fictitious grasping talons, made fictional pterodactyls look more like dragon/harpy-esque monstrosities.

Of course, a boom of new pterosaur taxa described after the turn of the millennium revealed that a head-crest/long tail and gnashers combo was hardly uncommon, as many basal pterosaurs from the Triassic and Jurassic such as Austriadactylus (2002), Pterorhynchus(2002), Harpactognathus (2003), Raeticodactylus (2008), and Yelaphomte (2022) had both head-crests, be they part of the skull or made out of keratin or both, and long tails (even Pterodactylus turned out to have a fleshy head-crest). However, all of these guys were small, and having long tails was disadvantageous for flying animals, as it creates drag, hence why the short-tailed pterodactyloids proved to be more efficient fliers than the long-tailed rhamphorhynchoids, leading to the latter dying out during the transition between the Jurassic and Cretaceous while the pterodactyloids grew in size and diversity.

Most head-crested pterosaurs from the Cretaceous; various azhdarchoids and the pteranodontians, were toothless, while the toothed pterosaurs, the anhanguerians and relatives, tended to have sharp teeth used for catching slippery fish while lacking head-crests, though many, such as Tropeognathus, had crests located on the tip of their snout and lower jaw, and hamipterids likewise had a large crest on their snout similar to some Triassic forms. However, a select few anhanguerians did indeed evolve head-crests. In fact, a few conventional anhanguerids such as Tropeognathus have a small protrusion at the very back of their skulls , which is likely the basal condition from which the head-crested anhanguerids evolved.

The most famous of these is known from a skull (around 66 cm long) found in the late Aptian Crato Formation of Brazil (115-113 mya), which is part of the Santana Group, and it's been named Ludodactylus sibbicki ("Sibbick's toy finger"). The specific name honors paleoartist John Sibbick, while the generic name refers to its (at the time) perceived chimeric nature (ala a cheap plastic toy). Ludodactylus didn't have keel-like crests on its rostrum like many other anhanguerids but it did have one on the back of its head, though unfortunately, only the base of it was preserved. However, we do have a second specimen that does preserve the whole crest . Unfortunately... again, this one (like many Brazilian fossils) was collected by fossil poachers and is currently collecting dust in some private collection, but it's plainly evident from photos alone that this is another Ludodactylus sibbicki specimen or at least a close relative, and it shows that the animal did not have a Pteranodon-like crest as many had assumed ; its was shorter and had a rounded tip, unless there was some Pteranodon-esque sexual dimorphism going on.

Another anhanguerid that combines a back-swept head-crest with large teeth, quite a bit larger and gnarlier than those of Ludodactylus in fact, is the British Caulkicephalus trimicrodon, known from the Barremian Wessex Formation. Like many of the Wessex taxa, it's only known from bits and fragments of the skull and skeleton , and it only preserves the very base of an inferred head-crest. It was also slightly larger, with an estimated wingspan of 5 meters, while L. sibbicki was slightly smaller, at an estimated 4 meters, smaller than most of its Romualdo cousins. Yet another anhanguerid with a head-crest and teeth as vicious-looking as those of Caulkicephalus is Guidraco venator, from the mid Aptian Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning (home of Microraptor), and it was the smallest of the three, with a skull only 38 cm long and sporting a short, forward-swept head-crest . Some have suggested that Ludodactylus, Caulkicephalus, and Guidraco might form a distinct subgroup of head-crested anhanguerids, being phylogenetically closer to each other than the rest of the family.

The Crato Formation does not have as many pterosaur fossils as the overlying Romualdo, but it does have a few more midsized anhanguerians; Arthurdactylus and Brasileodactylus, and several azhdarchoids, such as the poorly known Lacusovagus (a potential chaoyangopterid), and tapejarids, Aymberedactylus and the famous Tupandactylus; both the midsized, tall-crested Tupandactylus navigans, and the giant, very extravagant Tupandactylus imperator, as well as some theropod dinosaurs; "Ubirajara", a small coelurosaur with preserved integument (including some odd structures ), and the enantiornithine bird Cratoavis, who also preserves two very long tail feathers . Many Colombian marine reptiles such as Callawayasaurus, Kyhytysuka, and Monquirasaurus also patrolled South America's northern coasts at the time.

Description
To understand the generic name of this pterosaur ("toy finger"), one has to look back at a far simpler time where, whenever prehistoric animals showed up in pop culture such as Saturday Morning cartoons or comics, the authors did zero research and just drew them from memory. When it came to pterosaurs, given that the two most profilic taxa during the 20th century, Pteranodon and Rhamphorhynchus, represent two very, very, very distant branches of Pterosauria, we often got chimeric portrayals that combined the large size and distinct head-crest of the Late Cretaceous Pteranodon longiceps (the males anyway) with the gnarly teeth and (though not always) long, veined tail of Rhamphorhynchus, which, combined with nudism and fictitious grasping talons, made fictional pterodactyls look more like dragon/harpy-esque monstrosities.

Of course, a boom of new pterosaur taxa described after the turn of the millennium revealed that a head-crest/long tail and gnashers combo was hardly uncommon, as many basal pterosaurs from the Triassic and Jurassic such as Austriadactylus (2002), Pterorhynchus(2002), Harpactognathus (2003), Raeticodactylus (2008), and Yelaphomte (2022) had both head-crests, be they part of the skull or made out of keratin or both, and long tails (even Pterodactylus turned out to have a fleshy head-crest). However, all of these guys were small, and having long tails was disadvantageous for flying animals, as it creates drag, hence why the short-tailed pterodactyloids proved to be more efficient fliers than the long-tailed rhamphorhynchoids, leading to the latter dying out during the transition between the Jurassic and Cretaceous while the pterodactyloids grew in size and diversity.

Most head-crested pterosaurs from the Cretaceous; various azhdarchoids and the pteranodontians, were toothless, while the toothed pterosaurs, the anhanguerians and relatives, tended to have sharp teeth used for catching slippery fish while lacking head-crests, though many, such as Tropeognathus, had crests located on the tip of their snout and lower jaw, and hamipterids likewise had a large crest on their snout similar to some Triassic forms. However, a select few anhanguerians did indeed evolve head-crests. In fact, a few conventional anhanguerids such as Tropeognathus have a small protrusion at the very back of their skulls , which is likely the basal condition from which the head-crested anhanguerids evolved.

The most famous of these is known from a skull (around 66 cm long) found in the late Aptian Crato Formation of Brazil (115-113 mya), which is part of the Santana Group, and it's been named Ludodactylus sibbicki ("Sibbick's toy finger"). The specific name honors paleoartist John Sibbick, while the generic name refers to its (at the time) perceived chimeric nature (ala a cheap plastic toy). Ludodactylus didn't have keel-like crests on its rostrum like many other anhanguerids but it did have one on the back of its head, though unfortunately, only the base of it was preserved. However, we do have a second specimen that does preserve the whole crest . Unfortunately... again, this one (like many Brazilian fossils) was collected by fossil poachers and is currently collecting dust in some private collection, but it's plainly evident from photos alone that this is another Ludodactylus sibbicki specimen or at least a close relative, and it shows that the animal did not have a Pteranodon-like crest as many had assumed ; its was shorter and had a rounded tip, unless there was some Pteranodon-esque sexual dimorphism going on.

Another anhanguerid that combines a back-swept head-crest with large teeth, quite a bit larger and gnarlier than those of Ludodactylus in fact, is the British Caulkicephalus trimicrodon, known from the Barremian Wessex Formation. Like many of the Wessex taxa, it's only known from bits and fragments of the skull and skeleton , and it only preserves the very base of an inferred head-crest. It was also slightly larger, with an estimated wingspan of 5 meters, while L. sibbicki was slightly smaller, at an estimated 4 meters, smaller than most of its Romualdo cousins. Yet another anhanguerid with a head-crest and teeth as vicious-looking as those of Caulkicephalus is Guidraco venator, from the mid Aptian Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning (home of Microraptor), and it was the smallest of the three, with a skull only 38 cm long and sporting a short, forward-swept head-crest . Some have suggested that Ludodactylus, Caulkicephalus, and Guidraco might form a distinct subgroup of head-crested anhanguerids, being phylogenetically closer to each other than the rest of the family.

The Crato Formation does not have as many pterosaur fossils as the overlying Romualdo, but it does have a few more midsized anhanguerians; Arthurdactylus and Brasileodactylus, and several azhdarchoids, such as the poorly known Lacusovagus (a potential chaoyangopterid), and tapejarids, Aymberedactylus and the famous Tupandactylus; both the midsized, tall-crested Tupandactylus navigans, and the giant, very extravagant Tupandactylus imperator, as well as some theropod dinosaurs; "Ubirajara", a small coelurosaur with preserved integument (including some odd structures ), and the enantiornithine bird Cratoavis, who also preserves two very long tail feathers . Many Colombian marine reptiles such as Callawayasaurus, Kyhytysuka, and Monquirasaurus also patrolled South America's northern coasts at the time.