Abstract An exceptionally well-preserved cranium and mandible of a new species of pterodacty-loid pterosaur from the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation (Aptian, Early Cretaceious) of the Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil, is described. The new taxon is characterized by the presence of a caudally directed parietal crest similar to that seen in pteranodontids, but is referred to the Ornithocheiridae of the Ornithocheiroidea. The specimen is referred to a new genus within the Ornithocheiridae, as it lacks the diagnostic rostral crest and instead possesses this parietal crest oriented. A lanceolate leaf with frayed distal end wedged between the mandibular rami suggests the cause of death for the specimen.

Abstract A cladistic analysis based on 39 terminal taxa and 74 characters (several multistate) using PAUP (Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony) (3.1.1 for Macintosh and 4.0b10 for Microsoft Windows) presents a new hypothesis of pterosaur inter-relationships. This study suggests that the most primitive taxon is the Anurognathidae, followed by Sordes and all remaining pterosaurs. Dendrorhynchoides is confirmed as a member of the Anurognathidae, being closely related to Batrachognathus. Preondactylus occupies a more derived position than Sordes, which questions its previous assignment as the most primitive pterosaur. The hypothesis of rhamphorhynchoid paraphyly is confirmed, with the Rhamphorhynchidae more closely related to the Pterodactyloidea than to more basal forms. The Pterodactyloidea shows a basal dichotomy: the Archaeopterodactyloidea and the Dsungaripteroidea. The Archaeopterodactyloidea is formed by Pterodactylus + Germanodactylus and a clade formed by Gallodactylidae + Ctenochasmatidae. The Nyctosauridae occupies the basal position within dsungaripteroids and is followed by the Pteranodontoidea and the Tapejaroidea. Pteranodontoids have Pteranodon at the base, followed stepwise by Istiodactylus, Ornithocheirus and the Anhangueridae. Tapejaroids are composed of the Dsungaripteridae at the base followed by the Tapejaridae and the Azhdarchidae. Major trends within pterosaur evolutionary history are: general increase in size (wing span and body); increase of wing metacarpal and pteroid; decrease of proportional length of the second and third wing phalanx relative to the first; gradual increase of rostrum (anterior to external nares); and anterior shift of the skull-mandible articulation. Cranial crests are present in most pterodacty-loids, but markedly in the Ornithocheiroidea, where all taxa show some sort of crest on the skull. The loss of teeth, previously assumed to have occurred independently in several lineages, seems to be a general trend among dsungaripteroids. Several nodes recovered by this analysis are supported by very few characters, a result at least partially attributable to the limited available information from several taxa due to poor preservation and/or preparation.

Abstract Previous cladistic studies of pterosaur relationships suffer from restricted numbers of taxa and characters, incomplete data sets and absence of information on characters, tree structure and the robustness of trees. Parsimony analysis of a new character data set (60 characters, 20 terminal taxa, 93.75% complete) yielded six trees. In the strict consensus tree Preondactylus is the most basal taxon followed, stepwise, by the Dimorphodontidae and the Anurognathidae. Beyond this basal group, more derived pterosaurs (Campylognathoididae (Rhamphorhynchidae + Pterodactyloidea)) share a suite of characters principally associated with elongation of the rostrum. The Pterodactyloidea consists of four major clades. The Ornithocheiroidea is the most basal taxon consisting, stepwise, of Istiodactylus, the Ornithocheiridae, Nyctosaurus and the Pteranodontidae. The remaining taxa, Ctenochasmatoidea, Dsungaripteroidea and Azhdarchoidea, are weakly united in a clade of non-ornithocheiroid pterodactyloids, but their inter-relationships are difficult to resolve. Cycnorhamphus is the basal-most ctenochasmatoid, while the remaining taxa (Pterodactylus, Lonchodectidae, Ctenochasmatidae) form an unresolved trichotomy. The Dsungaripteroidea (Germanodactylus + Dsungaripteridae) is strongly supported by features of the skull and dentition. The Azhdarchoidea (Tapejara [Tupuxuara + Azhdarchidae]) is united by cranial characters such as elevation of the antorbital region, and relative shortening of the wing finger. The pattern of pterosaur evolution suggested by the results of this analysis is broadly similar to traditional ideas, but has greater resolution, more complexity and reveals several previously unrecognized ‘events’.

Abstract: Three associated incomplete wing bones of a large pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation of Utah are described. Based on the morphology of the bones’ articular ends, the specimen is referred to the Pteranodontoidea. Associated ammonites indicate that the specimen’s age is Middle Turonian, so it adds to the sparse worldwide record of Turonian pterosaurs. The record of pteranodontoid pterosaurs in the Western Interior Seaway of North America is reviewed, and it is suggested that pteranodontoids were not diverse.

Abstract The musculature of the pectoral region of representative rhamphorhynchoid ( Campylognathoid.es ) and large pterodactyloid ( Anhanguera ) pterosaurs was reconstructed in order to examine the function of various muscles and the functional consequences of the evolution of the advanced pectoral girdle of large pterodactyloids. The reconstructions suggest that m. supracora-coideus was not an elevator of the wing, but instead depressed and flexed the humerus, m. latissimus dorsi, m. teres major, m. deltoides scapularis, and m. scapulohumeralis anterior were wing elevators. Comparison of the origin, insertion and function of muscles in the rhamphorhynchoid and the large pterodactyloid suggests that the evolution of the advanced pectoral girdle: (1) straightened the pull of m. pectoralis, m. deltoides scapularis and m. teres major, improving their function in wing elevation; (2) allowed ligaments rather than muscles to resist the tendency of those muscles to move the scapula; and (3) braced the pectoral girdle against the vertebral column so that the tendency of m. latissimus dorsi and of aerodynamic lift on the wing to move the scapulocoracoid medially and dorsally, thereby compressing the thorax, could be resisted. The osteological and myological complexity of the advanced pectoral girdle, its uniqueness among tetrapods and its association with other complex osteological features argue that the advanced pectoral girdle is a synapomorphy complex of a single clade of large pterodactyloids, rather than a mere correlate of large size evolved convergently in various lineages.

Abstract: Understanding the ecological roles of pterosaurs is a challenging pursuit, but one aided by a growing body of fossil evidence for their dietary preferences and roles as food sources for other species. Pterosaur foraging behaviour is represented by preserved gut content, stomach regurgitates, coprolites and feeding traces. Pterosaurs being eaten by other species are recorded by tooth marks and teeth embedded in their fossil bones, consumer gut content and regurgitate, and their preservation entangled with predatory animals. This palaeoecological record has improved in recent years, but remains highly selective. The Jurassic rhamphorhynchid Rhamphorhynchus , Cretaceous ornithocheiroid Pteranodon and azhdarchid pterosaurs currently have the most substantial palaeoecological records. The food species and consumers of these taxa conform to lifestyle predictions for these groups. Rhamphorhynchus and Pteranodon ate and were eaten by aquatic species, matching expectations of these animals as sea-going, perhaps partly aquatic species. Possible azhdarchid pterosaur foraging traces alongside pterosaur tracks, and evidence that these animals were eaten by dinosaurs and Crocodyliformes, are consistent with hypotheses that azhdarchids foraged and lived in terrestrial settings. Fossil evidence of pterosaur palaeoecology remains rare: researchers are strongly encouraged to put specimens showing details of dietary preferences, foraging strategies or interactions with other animals on record.

Abstract The first pterosaur fossil was described by Cosimo Alessandro Collini in 1784, but the epithet ptero dactyle was not applied until Georges Cuvier recognized the fossil as that of a volant animal in 1801. In eighteenth-century Britain, pterosaur bones had been discovered in Jurassic strata at Stonesfield, Oxfordshire but were considered to be bird bones, and largely went unnoticed. Bones of pterosaurs considerably larger than those of the first pterosaurs were discovered in the early nineteenth century by Gideon Mantell, but because of their comparatively large size were considered by Cuvier to also be the bones of birds. This perception by early nineteenth-century palaeontologists, including William Buckland and Gideon Mantell, that pterosaurs were relatively small animals was probably the reason their remains went unrecognized in British Jurassic and Cretaceous strata for several decades. Furthermore, the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century dogmatic acceptance that fossil birds were present in the Jurassic Stonesfield ‘slate’ of Oxfordshire delayed the identification of medium-sized pterosaurs until the late 1820s, when Dean William Buckland described the Liassic Pterodactylus (= Dimorphodon ) macronyx in 1829. Even after that date many fragmentary, but large, pterosaur bones were misidentified as avian, despite there being no convincing evidence for Mesozoic birds until the discovery of Archaeopteryx in the 1860s. Truly gigantic pterosaurs were first discovered in Great Britain some 20 years before Pteranodon was found in the Late Cretaceous of Kansas. However, the British material was so fragmentary that it was easily eclipsed by the spectacular, near-complete skeletons of Pteranodon found by O. C. Marsh and others from the 1870s onwards.