Back Ornithodesmus Czech Ornithodesmus cluniculus Spanish Ornithodesmus French אורניתודסמוס HE Ornithodesmus cluniculus Italian オルニトデスムス Japanese Ornithodesmus Dutch Ornithodesmus Occitan Ornitodesm Polish Ornithodesmus Portuguese
| Ornithodesmus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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| Illustration of the holotype sacrum in multiple views | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Dromaeosauridae |
| Genus: | †Ornithodesmus Seeley, 1887 |
| Species: | †O. cluniculus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Ornithodesmus cluniculus Seeley, 1887
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Ornithodesmus (meaning "bird link") is a genus of small, dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Isle of Wight in England, dating to about 125 million years ago. The name was originally assigned to a bird-like sacrum (a series of vertebrae fused to the hip bones), initially believed to come from a bird[1] and subsequently identified as a pterosaur. More complete pterosaur remains were later assigned to Ornithodesmus, until recently a detailed analysis determined that the original specimen in fact came from a small theropod, specifically a dromaeosaur, making it one of the first dromaeosaurs known to science. All pterosaurian material previously assigned to this genus has been renamed Istiodactylus.