| Mimodactylus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Holotype specimen with interpretive drawing and inset close-ups of the scapula and coracoid (b), wrist (c), and humerus (d) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Istiodactyliformes |
| Clade: | †Mimodactylidae |
| Genus: | †Mimodactylus Kellner et al., 2019 |
| Species: | †M. libanensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Mimodactylus libanensis Kellner et al., 2019
| |
Mimodactylus is a genus of istiodactyliform pterosaur that lived in what is now Lebanon during the Late Cretaceous, 95 million years ago. The only known specimen was discovered in a limestone quarry near the town of Hjoula, belonging to the Sannine Formation. The owner of the quarry allowed the specimen to be prepared and scientifically described by an international team of researchers, and when it was eventually sold, the buyer donated it to the MIM Museum in Beirut. In 2019, the researchers named the new genus and species Mimodactylus libanensis; the generic name refers to the MIM Museum, combined with the Greek word daktylos for "digit", and the specific name refers to Lebanon. The well-preserved holotype specimen is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent (which consisted of the then joined Arabian Peninsula and Africa), and the third pterosaur fossil known from Lebanon.
The holotype specimen is comparatively small, with a wingspan of 1.32 metres (4.3 ft), and was probably a young individual. Its snout is broad and the cone-shaped teeth are confined to the front half of the jaws. The tooth crowns are compressed sideways and have a cingulum (a thickened ridge at the base), and lack sharp carinae (cutting edges). The skeleton is distinctive in that the deltopectoral crest of the humerus (ridge for attachment of the deltoid and pectoral muscles) is rectangular and that the humerus is less than half the length of the wing-finger's second phalanx bone. The describers of Mimodactylus classified it in the new clade Mimodactylidae along with Haopterus, this group being part of Istiodactyliformes. The teeth of Mimodactylus suggest its feeding habits differed from other pterosaurs, possibly it foraged for decapod crustaceans from water surfaces. The marine deposits of Hjoula are late Cenomanian in age and are well-known for fish fossils. Lebanon was submerged in the Neotethys ocean at the time, but some small islands were exposed.