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.
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.
Dimorphodon