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Description

Hylodracodactylus cryptopterus or HyPtA "C" is a hypothetical ancestor to pterosaurs. The genus name "Hylodracodactylus" means " tree dragon finger" and the species name "cryptopterus" means "hidden wing".

This species would have been around 232 to 230 mya or somewhere in the Early Carnian of the Late Triassic. They would have reside in a arboreal environment, climbing on trees and using them as places to jump and glide off of.

The size of the species would be quite tiny, having a body length of around 45 cm and wingspan of 30 cm (17.7 and 11.8 inches respectively). The mass of Hylodracodactylus would be around 990 g or 2.1 Lbs. This is probably is the reason we haven't found a fossil specimen as the small size and frail mass would make fossilization of this creature incredibly rare over a long period of time.

The diet of Hylodracodactylus would have been insects, using its small simple teeth to grab insects out of the air when gliding.

This artwork was made to show what a hypothetical pterosaur ancestor would have look like. The concept was based by Mark Witton "HyPtA's" or "Hypothertical Pterosaur Ancestor". However he was using Scleromochlus as a base which is outdated as a paper placed Scleromochlus as a basal archosaur instead of a basal avemetatarsalian (the clade where dinosaurs and pterosaurs ar place in). The source of the paper can be found here . So I decided to use a lagerpetid-like avemetatarsalian as a base since Lagerpetidae has been placed as a sister clade to Pterosauria.

Sketches:
*some measurements in the sketches may be inaccurate*
HyPtA (A) Sketch
HyPtA (C) Sketch
HyPtA (E) Sketch

References used:

Ixalerpteron Skeletal by : www.deviantart.com/scotthartma…
Lagerpetron Skeletal by : www.deviantart.com/sassypaleon…
Preondactylus Skeletal by Mark Witton: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…
Preondactylus Skeletal 2 by David Peters: www.reptileevolution.com/image…
Hypothetical Pterosaur Ancestors by Mark Witton: www.palaeocast.com/wp-content/…
Java Sparrow: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…
Vampire Bat: Photo taken by Thomas Quine at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto: www.flickr.com/photos/quinet/2…
Glossopteris: xfrog.com/mm5/graphics/0000000…

Description

Hylodracodactylus cryptopterus or HyPtA "C" is a hypothetical ancestor to pterosaurs. The genus name "Hylodracodactylus" means " tree dragon finger" and the species name "cryptopterus" means "hidden wing".

This species would have been around 232 to 230 mya or somewhere in the Early Carnian of the Late Triassic. They would have reside in a arboreal environment, climbing on trees and using them as places to jump and glide off of.

The size of the species would be quite tiny, having a body length of around 45 cm and wingspan of 30 cm (17.7 and 11.8 inches respectively). The mass of Hylodracodactylus would be around 990 g or 2.1 Lbs. This is probably is the reason we haven't found a fossil specimen as the small size and frail mass would make fossilization of this creature incredibly rare over a long period of time.

The diet of Hylodracodactylus would have been insects, using its small simple teeth to grab insects out of the air when gliding.

This artwork was made to show what a hypothetical pterosaur ancestor would have look like. The concept was based by Mark Witton "HyPtA's" or "Hypothertical Pterosaur Ancestor". However he was using Scleromochlus as a base which is outdated as a paper placed Scleromochlus as a basal archosaur instead of a basal avemetatarsalian (the clade where dinosaurs and pterosaurs ar place in). The source of the paper can be found here . So I decided to use a lagerpetid-like avemetatarsalian as a base since Lagerpetidae has been placed as a sister clade to Pterosauria.

Sketches:
*some measurements in the sketches may be inaccurate*
HyPtA (A) Sketch
HyPtA (C) Sketch
HyPtA (E) Sketch

References used:

Ixalerpteron Skeletal by : www.deviantart.com/scotthartma…
Lagerpetron Skeletal by : www.deviantart.com/sassypaleon…
Preondactylus Skeletal by Mark Witton: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…
Preondactylus Skeletal 2 by David Peters: www.reptileevolution.com/image…
Hypothetical Pterosaur Ancestors by Mark Witton: www.palaeocast.com/wp-content/…
Java Sparrow: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…
Vampire Bat: Photo taken by Thomas Quine at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto: www.flickr.com/photos/quinet/2…
Glossopteris: xfrog.com/mm5/graphics/0000000…