The name "play finger" refers to the genus of anhanguerid pterodactyloid pterosaurs known as Ludodactylus, which originated in the Early Cretaceous era (Aptian stage) of the Crato Formation in the Araripe Basin of Ceará, Brazil. L. sibbicki is the only species and the type. The genus name Ludodactylus relates to the fact that, like many pterosaurs, the animal possessed a head crest like that of a Pteranodon. Until Ludodactylus was discovered, no such creature was known to exist. However, Caulkicephalus, a very near relative of Ludodactylus, is another example of a pterosaur known to have similar characteristics.
Etymology
Eberhard Frey et al. created the genus in 2003, and Ludodactylus sibbicki is the only species now recognized. The words "play" (Latin ludus) and "finger" (Greek daktylos) are the sources of the name. Ludus alludes to the long-bemoaned reality among paleontologists that several pterosaurs paired fangs with a skull crest like that of a Pteranodon, despite the fact that no such animal was known to exist. Nevertheless, Ludodactylus exhibits precisely this combination of traits. From Pterodactylus, the name of the earliest known genus, "Dactylus" has frequently appeared in the names of pterosaurs, referring to the characteristic long wing finger. John Sibbick, a paleoartist, is honored with the particular name "sibbicki".
Description
The holotype SMNK PAL 3828, a skull that was taken from the plate before to the fossil's illicit sale, is the basis for the Ludodactylus. It lacks a portion of the head crest. It was formerly thought to belong to the family Ornithocheiridae, which includes animals with a crest at the rear of the skull but no premaxillary crest on the snout like Ludodactylus did. The deep mandible was described by Frey et al. as a crest on the lower jaws. A yucca leaf was lodged between the mandible's rami; Frey hypothesized that the animal may have perished from malnutrition or a starvation-related complication after attempting in vain to remove the leaf with its beak. The length of the skull would have exceeded 66 centimeters (26 in).
Classification
Frey et al. categorized Ludodactylus in the Ornithocheiridae family in 2003. Rethinking the validity of Ludodactylus in 2007, Frey proposed that it may be a junior synonym for Brasileodactylus, representing the same species. But in a massive cladistic study of pterosaurs conducted in 2014, Brian Andres and colleagues discovered that Ludodactylus was somewhat more closely connected to ornithocheirids and anhanguerids than to Brasileodactylus. According to Andres and colleagues' research, Ludodactylus is categorized as a derived member of the more inclusive group Anhangueria, placing it slightly outside of the families Ornithocheiridae and Anhangueridae. The left side of their cladogram is displayed. Ludodactylus was rediscovered in the family Anhangueridae in 2020 by Borja Holgado and Rodrigo Pêgas using a new topology. Ludodactylus was assigned to the Anhanguerinae subfamily, which is sister taxon to both Caulkicephalus and Guidraco. This demonstrates that it does have a close ancestry to the anhanguerids. On the right is their cladogram.
Topology 1: Andres et al. (2014).
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Topology 2: Holgado & Pêgas (2020).
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Skull of Ludodactylus with a yucca leaf in its mouth.
Reconstruction of Ludodactylus.
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