{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2026}} {{speciesbox | name = ''Comodactylus'' | fossil_range = Late Jurassic, {{fossilrange|155}} | genus = Comodactylus | species = ostromi | parent_authority = Galton, 1981 | authority = Galton, 1981 }}
'''''Comodactylus''''' is a genus of "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, United States, named for a single wing metacarpal.<ref name=PMG81>Galton, P.M. (1981). A rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic of North America. ''Journal of Paleontology'' '''55''':1117–1122.</ref>
In 1879 collector William Harlow Reed sent some fossil material he had excavated at Como Bluff in Quarry N° 9, or the "Mammal Quarry", to his employer Professor Othniel Charles Marsh at New Haven. Among it was the bone of a pterosaur that was subsequently filed, stored and forgotten.
In 1981 Peter Galton erected the genus ''Comodactylus'' based on this bone. The type species is ''Comodactylus ostromi''. The genus name is derived from Como Bluff and Greek ''daktylos'', meaning "finger", referring to the dramatically extended wing finger that is unique to pterosaurs. The specific name honors John Ostrom.
The holotype is '''YPM 9150''', consisting of an intact fourth metacarpal measuring {{convert|57.5|mm|in|sp=us}} long. This holotype is the only known material from the animal. The metacarpal is quite robust, with the proximal end being very expanded. Such proportions are typical for basal pterosaurs such as ''Rhamphorhynchus'', suggesting ''Comodactylus'' was not a member of the advanced Pterodactyloidea. However, assigning it to a pterosaur clade beyond the paraphyletic group "Rhamphorhynchoidea" has proven difficult due to a lack of diagnostic material. In 1989, James Jensen and Kevin Padian considered ''Comodactylus'' a nomen dubium.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jensen |first1=James A. |last2=Padian |first2=Kevin |date=1989 |title=Small Pterosaurs and Dinosaurs from the Uncompahgre Fauna (Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation: ?Tithonian), Late Jurassic, Western Colorado |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1305508 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=364–373 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000019533 |jstor=1305508 |bibcode=1989JPal...63..364J |issn=0022-3360|url-access=subscription }}</ref> David Unwin in 1993 suggested an affinity with ''Nesodactylus''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
The wingspan has been estimated at 2.5 meters (8.2 ft), exceptionally large for a pterosaur not belonging to the Pterodactyloidea.<ref name="PMG81" /> ''Comodactylus'' was also the first non-pterodactyloid pterosaur that was found in the Americas.
==See also== * List of pterosaur genera * Timeline of pterosaur research
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Pterosaur genera Category:Late Jurassic pterosaurs of North America Category:Morrison fauna Category:Taxa named by Peter Galton Category:Fossil taxa described in 1981