Gallodactylus canyonisensis is a pterosaurian belonging to the group of Pterodactyloidea that occurred during the late Jurassic in the present-day region of Europe.
In 1974, the French paleontologist Jacques Fabre described and named a fossil as Gallodactylus canjuersensis. The gender name refers to Gallia, often equivalent to France, and the output dactylus becomes "finger" since Pterodactylus is often used for pterosaurians. The type designation refers to the location at Canjuers.
The holotype, MNHN CNJ-71, consists of a free full skeleton of an immature individual.
Fabre immediately concluded that the species was closely related to the already known Pterodactylus suevicus; he decided to take Pterodactylus from the already overloaded genus and to accommodate his new gender as Gallodactylus suevicus. Now in 1870 Harry Govier Seeley P. suevicus had given a new generation: Cycnorhamphus. However, this name was taken into use by Felix Plieninger from 1907. Plieninger had rejected Cycnorhamphus's rejection based on a supposed bad description by Seeley of the fossil, and Fabre simply rejected that rejection. However, in 1996, Christopher Bennett noted that such description errors do not invalidate a name and that Cycnorhamphus has priority. So who, like Bennet himself, continues to accommodate both species in one sex, must speak of a Cycnorhamphus canjuersensis. However, some palaeontologists continue to distinguish: it depends on the personal choice whether to combine species in a gender.
Gallodactylus differs from Cycnorhamphus in proportions: the upper leg and tibia are relatively shorter, the middle hands tend to be longer. The tip on the backside is somewhat pointed and more directed downwards. According to Bennett, this may represent individual variations within one species and he has therefore speculated that Gallodactylus is identical to Cycnorhamphus suevicus. As the only serious difference, he sees the shape of the jaws: the points of the Gallodactylus holotype distinguish them strongly, making it doubtful whether they could be closed in the front. However, this could also be a consequence of fossil deformation.
Alexander Kellner, on the other hand, continues to treat both forms as separate sexes and has united them within a cloak Gallodactylidae. Fabre himself thought Gallodactylus had to be placed within a subspecies Gallodactylinae, but then left a position in a Pterodactylidae, which should now be regarded as obsolete.
Gallodactylus was a fairly small pterosaurian with a span of about 130 centimeters standing with his long mouth in the mud looking for invertebrates. Literature
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