Soft tissue preservation of the cranial crest of the pterosaur Germanodactylus from Solnhofen

ABSTRACT

Soft tissues associated with the cranial crest are described in a specimen of Germanodactylus rhamphastinus from the Solnhofen Limestone of southern Germany. The soft tissues covered, and extended upward from, the bony premaxillary crest, more than doubling the height of the crest, and were probably composed of cornified epidermis. Comparison of this specimen with other Solnhofen pterodactyloids with premaxillary crests suggests that all had soft tissues increasing the size of the crest in life.