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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
SubOrder: Pterodactyloidea
Genus: Bakonydraco
Bakonydraco is a species belonging to the category of azhdarchid pterosaur. This was known to have lived during the upper cretaceous era in the Bakony Mountains situated at Western Hungary.
The genus got its name from Jiany Coralia, Atilla Ossi and David Wieshampel in the year 2005. The category of the species is Bakonydraco galaczi. The particular name galaczi was given to this genus to honor Professor Andras Galacz. His name was given because he helped the researchers to find the fossils of Bakonydraco, which remained in a bauxite mine of Hungary along with the fossils of other pterosaurs.
From the fossils it was found that the lower jaw of Bakonydraco was toothless and half of the mandible was fused of its total length, which formed a pointed section expanded vertically and also compresses side-to-side, it was also long, so it would have looked somewhat arrowhead or spearhead shape from the side view. This expansion is known to have occurred both on the top surface and on the lower edge, where the most acute point match up with a transverse ridge, which divides the straight back half.
The jaws of Bakonydraco were known to have been 11.4 inches (i.e.) 29cms long and its wingspan is estimated to be around 11.5 to 13.1 feet (i.e.) 3.5 to 4 meters, which is the normal size of a pterosaur. Since the jaws of Bakonydraco were comparatively taller than other azhdarchid pterosaurs, researchers feel that it would have fed in a different way from other azhdarchid pterosaurs.
According to the researchers Bakonydraco, would have been frugivore or piscivor. Piscivor is nothing, but creatures feeding on small fish. They also found that it would have been a dominant variety in the family of pterosaurs.
Classification of Bakonydraco:
Bakonydraco were classified under the kingdom of Animalia and phylum of Chordata. It was further classified under the sauropsida class, pterosauria order and pterodactyloidea suborder.
As said earlier, researchers believe that Bakonydraco would have eaten small fish and this was found on the basis of the fossil having a pointed and long edentulous mandible with a lower mandibular crest. It would have used its jaws to seize small fish out of the water. This hypothesis is supported by laterally compressed tip of the mandible and slightly concave dorsal surface of the front part. But, skimming would not have been possible for Bakonydraco or any other azhdarchids mainly because of their elongate, straight and narrow mandibular rami and rigid and long neck.
According to researchers, Bakonydraco might also have been a frugivory. They think that it would have been a frugivorous because of its pointed tip and concave dorsal surface, which were similar to Tapejara. In the case of Tapejara, when the jaws were closed only the concave tops of the dentary and pre-maxilla were in touch and as a result of the gap, it would have picked up and plucked fleshy fruits. Even though, it looked like a frugivorous, the relatively large wing span of Bakonydraco would have restricted it from trees with spacious foliage, but it would have walked around trees and shrubs.
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