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NARROW
GeoRef Subject
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all geography including DSDP/ODP Sites and Legs
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Asia
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Primary terms
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Chordata
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Reptilia
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Diapsida
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Archosauria
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Ornithocheirus
The pterosaurian remains from the Grünbach Formation (Campanian, Gosau Group) of Austria: a reappraisal of ‘ Ornithocheirus buenzeli ’
Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the group
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.
An early azhdarchid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the eastern Paris basin
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.
Reinterpretation of a Chilean pterosaur and the occurrence of Dsungaripteridae in South America
Abstract: A specimen of a pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (Early Cretaceous, Valanginian) of Bexhill, East Sussex, southern England is described. It comprises a small fragment of jaw with teeth, a partial vertebral column and associated incomplete wing bones. The juxtaposition of the bones suggests that the specimen was originally more complete and articulated. Its precise phylogenetic relationships are uncertain but it represents an indeterminate lonchodectid with affinities to Lonchodectes sagittirostris ( Owen 1874 ) which is reviewed here, and may belong in Lonchodraco Rodrigues & Kellner 2013 . This specimen is only the third record of pterosaurs from this formation.
A pterosaur manus track from Denali National Park, Alaska Range, Alaska, United States
A large pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone of Utah
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 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.
Giant azhdarchid pterosaurs from the terminal Cretaceous of Transylvania (western Romania)
Abstract Pterosaur remains from the Late Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin of western Romania were reported by Nopcsa as early as 1899. Recent discoveries from the Late Maastrichtian Densuş-Ciula Formation include the giant azhdarchid Hatzegopteryx thambema, the holotype of which, consisting of skull elements and a humerus from the Vălioara locality, is described in detail. A very large femur from the same formation at Tuştea is also described. The systematic position of Hatzegopteryx is discussed. The wing span of H. thambema is estimated to be close to that of Quetzalcoatlus northropi (>12 m), but its skull is especially robust and may have been remarkably long (> 2.5 m). The skull bones of H. thambema consist of a very thin outer cortex enclosing an inner meshwork of extremely thin trabeculae surrounding very numerous small alveoli, an unusual structure reminiscent of expanded polystyrene. This peculiar structure, combining strength with lightness, can probably be considered as an adaptation to flight in a very large animal, through reduction of skull weight.
New smallest specimen of the pterosaur Pteranodon and ontogenetic niches in pterosaurs
Abstract: The preservation of the wing membrane of pterosaurs is very poor and the available fossil evidence does not allow its properties to be reconstructed. In contrast, the fossil record for the wing bones is relatively good and the advent of CT scanning has made it possible to build high-fidelity structural models of the wing spar. The bending strength of the wing spar of a 6 m wingspan ornithocheirid pterosaur is used to infer the likely membrane tension. The tensions required to suppress aeroelastic flutter and to minimize ballooning of the membrane under flight loads are also estimated. All three estimates are of similar magnitude and imply that the membrane must have contained high-modulus material, supporting the view that the reinforcing aktinofibrils were keratinous.
Abstract A large azhdarchid pterosaur is described from the Late Maastrichtian phosphatic deposits of the Oulad Abdoun Basin, near Khouribga (central Morocco). The material consists of five closely associated cervical vertebrae of a single individual. The mid-series neck vertebrae closely resemble those of azhdarchids Quetzalcoatlus and Azhdarcho in that they are elongate, with vestigial neural spines, prezygapophysial tubercles, a pair of ventral sulci near the prezygapophy ses, and without pneumatic foramina on the lateral surfaces of the centra. The Moroccan pterosaur is referred to a new genus and species of Azhdarchidae: Phosphatodraco mauritanicus gen. et sp.nov. It is mainly characterized by a very long cervical vertebra eight, bearing a prominent neural spine located very posteriorly. Based on comparisons with azhdarchid vertebrae, the estimated wing span of Phosphatodraco is close to 5 m. This discovery provides the first occurrence of Late Cretaceous azhdarchids in northern Africa. Phosphatodraco is one of the few azhdarchids known from a relatively complete neck and one of the latest-known pterosaurs, approximately contemporaneous with Quetzalcoatlus .
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 Two specimens of a tapejarid pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Tapejaridae) are described as representing a new species. Both specimens show evidence for soft tissues preserved in association with a sagittal bony cranial crest. Both specimens are from the Nova Olinda Member Konservat Lagerstätte of the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil. They represent the second tapejarid species from this formation. Comparisons are made with other crested pterosaurs and comments on the utility and aerodynamics of pterosaurian head crests are made.
New specimens of Pterosauria (Reptilia) with soft parts with implications for pterosaurian anatomy and locomotion
Abstract New specimens of pterosaurs with soft-part preservation from the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone (S Germany) and the Crato Formation (northeastern Brazil) yield hitherto unknown and unexpected details of pterosaur anatomy: the presence and internal anatomy of soft-tissue crests, the internal anatomy of the brachiopatagium, including a blood vessel system and structural details of foot and hand. Some consequences for pterosaurian flight, thermoregulation and aspects of evolution are discussed.