Ornithodesmus

Ornithodesmus was first described in 1887 by Harry Govier Seeley, who thought it was a bird because of its bird-like hip bones.1

The only known fossil of Ornithodesmus is a set of six fused vertebrae from the hip, called a sacrum.1

For many years, scientists mistakenly thought Ornithodesmus was a pterosaur, and other pterosaur fossils were given the same name. Those fossils were later renamed Istiodactylus in 2001.1

The name Ornithodesmus comes from Greek words meaning 'bird link', because Seeley thought it was a link between birds and dinosaurs.1

The species name cluniculus means 'little buttock' in Latin, a reference to the small thigh muscles suggested by the fossil.1

Ornithodesmus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago, in a floodplain environment with rivers and lakes.1