Iguanodon and Dermodactylus

Iguanodon and Dermodactylus

Iguanodon was a very successful dinosaur that lived at the end of the Jurassic Period and at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period.  It was a precursor or possibly and ancestor to the Hadrosaurs or duck billed dinosaurs.  There are several species of Iguanodon.  They all were herbivores or plant eaters.  In this drawing the Iguanodon is eating monocots or grasses.  New evidence shows that grass evolved earlier than previously thought.  They found grass pollen of 5 different species in coprolites or fossilized dung from Hadrosaurs in what is now India.  Now, that does not neccessarily mean that the earlier dinosaur Iguanodon ate grass, but it is possible.  

As far as size, Iguanodon was 33 feet long and weighed up; to 11,000 lbs.  That is 10 meters in length and 4,990 kg in length.   It probably browsed on shrubs and bushes and grazed on grass . . . IF there was grass yet in the area where it lived.   Of course Iguanodons  were EVERYWHERE. . . almost.  Their fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica.  

The Pterosaur or flying reptile is Dermodactylus.  Its fossils were found in Wyoming, USA.  It had a wingspan of up to 6 feet or 1.8 meters.  It weighed 3.3 lbs or had a mass of 7.3 kg.  It was one of the first Pterosaurs found.  It was found in the early 20th century by Samuel Wendell Williston and named by the famous paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh.  The name Dermodactylus means "Skin Finger."  This refers to the thin membrane stretched out along the elongated finger to form the wings.  

Since Dermodactylus was small in comparison to Iguanodon. . . think of the drawing as showing Dermodactylus in the foreground. . . that is, closer to you than the dinosaur.  Remember that Pterosaurs like Dermodactylus was NOT a dinosaur.  It was a flying reptile.