DIET
The knowledge of how
Dimorphodon lived is limited. It perhaps mainly inhabited coastal regions and might have had a very varied diet. Buckland suggested it ate insects. Later, it became common to depict it as a
piscivore (fish eater), though Buckland's original idea is more well supported by biomechanical studies, and inconsistent with the animal's habits (see flight below).
Dimorphodon had an advanced jaw musculature specialized for a "snap and hold" method of feeding. The jaw could close extremely quickly, but with relatively little force or tooth penetration. This, along with the short and high skull and longer, pointed front teeth suggest that
Dimorphodon was an
insectivore, though it may have occasionally eaten small vertebrates and carrion as well. Mark Witton has argued that the animal was a specialised carnivore, being too large for an insectivorous diet and therefore specialised to hunt small lizards, sphenodonts and mammals, though its relatively weak jaw musculature probably meant that it ate proportionally small prey.
Dental microwear examinations confirm its status as a vertebrate predator, as opposed to several other insectivore or piscivore early pterosaurs
It had powerful musculature for walking, running and even climbing. This additionally falsifies the idea that early non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs were not good walkers. Instead, Dimorphodon was probably incredibly good on land instead of in the air, probably almost as good as some pterodactyloids. There have been alternatives in the past though. Harry Govier Seeley assumed rightly that pterosaurs must be active and warm-blooded. Thus is 1901, he released an image of a Dimorphodon walking on two legs. This was rejected as the years would go by. So instead of fishing, Dimorphodon macronyx (the species name means "big claws") was more adept on land. It probably fed on small vertebrates and insects, using its famous "two types of teeth" to render its prey helpless. The long upper jaw teeth have cutting surfaces while the lower jaws bear shorter teeth. Broad-winged Dimorphodon was not the most graceful flyer though, given its short and broad wings roughly 1.45 meters across.
Quick facts about Dimorphodon: Existed from 201.3 million years ago to Pliensbachian Age. Lived in a
marine environment.
