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RHAMPHINION
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Genus: Rhamphinion Padian, 1984
Etymology: "beak nape"
Type species: R. jenkinsi
Other Species: none
Diagnosis: See type species.
Classification: Pterosauria incertae sedis
Holotype: MNA V 4500 — An occipital region, a left jugal fragment, a possible mandibular fragment with two assiciated teeth and the impression of a third, and an unidentifiable bone fragment. (Padian, 1984)
Referred Specimens: none
Time: ?Early Jurassic
Horizon: Middle Kayenta Formation
Location: "Foxtrot Mesa," Sand Mesa, Adeii Eechii Cliffs, Ward's Terrace, Little Colorado River Valley, northern Arizona, USA.
Skull length: ?
Total length: ?
Wingspan: ?
Mass: ?
Diagnosis: The material is diagnostic of the Pterosauria because of the large, long, strap-like quadrate, relatively small occipital condyle, thin, laminar cranial bones, the large lower temporal fenestra, the shape and orientation of the ascending process of the jugal, and the form of the teeth. Without better preservation it is difficult to specify characters that diagnose the Rhamphorhynchoidea, although the shape of the jugal is not at all similar to those of pterodactyloids. The genus is characterized by nearly rounded antorbital and orbital margins next to the sacending process of the jugal. Tha apparent suture between the maxilla and the jugal has a long, low, sloping contact and the orbit is situated at approximately the same height above the tooth row as is the antorbital opening. (Padian, 1984)
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