Lonchodectes
| Lonchodectes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype jaw fragment | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Ornithocheiromorpha |
| Family: | †Lonchodectidae Hooley, 1914 |
| Genus: | †Lonchodectes Hooley, 1914 |
| Type species | |
| Pterodactylus compressirostris Owen, 1851 | |
| Species | |
|
Lonchodectes compressirostris | |
Lonchodectes (meaning "lance biter") was a genus of lonchodectid pterosaur from several formations dating to the Turonian (Late Cretaceous) of England, mostly in the area around Kent. The species belonging to it had been assigned to Ornithocheirus until David Unwin's work of the 1990s and 2000s.[1] Several potential species are known; most are based on scrappy remains, and have gone through several other generic assignments. The genus is part of the complex taxonomy issues surrounding Early Cretaceous pterosaurs from Brazil and England, such as Amblydectes, Anhanguera, Coloborhynchus, and Ornithocheirus.
History and species
Numerous species have been referred to this genus over time, and only those more widely connected with the genus are included here.
The type species, L. compressirostris, is based on NHMUK 39410, a partial upper jaw from the Turonian-age Upper Cretaceous Upper Chalk near Kent. Richard Owen named in 1851 as a species of Pterodactylus;[2] it was transferred to Ornithocheirus in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley,[3] before becoming the type species of Lonchodectes in Reginald Walter Hooley's 1914 review of Ornithocheirus.[4] Confusingly, this species was also long regarded, incorrectly, as the type species of Ornithocheirus.[5]
A variety of postcranial remains resembling those of Azhdarchoids from the Cambridge Greensand have been referred to Lonchodectes[5][6][7]; however, much of this material has since been referred to Ornithostoma[8].
Formerly assigned to Lonchodectes
Hooley added two other species at this time, both of which had also been originally referred to Pterodactylus, then to Ornithocheirus: L. giganteus, a Cenomanian-age jaw fragment;[9] and L. daviesii, another jaw fragment, from an Albian-age formation.[10]
"Pterodactylus" sagittirostris, based on NHMUK R.1823, a lower jaw fragment from the ?Valanginian-Hauterivian-age Lower Cretaceous Hastings Beds of East Sussex,[10] "Ornithocheirus" platystomus,[3] "Ornithocheirus" machaerorhynchus, and "O." microdon were assigned to Lonchodectes in a 2001 review by David Unwin of Cambridge Greensand pterosaurs.[5] Two additional species based on jaw fragments, both from the Albian-age Cambridge Greensand,[3] were added by 2003: L. machaerorhynchus and L. microdon,[11] joining L. compressirostris, L. giganteus, L. platystomus, and L. sagittirostris in his listing of valid species.[12] However, L. giganteus, L. machaerorhynchus, and L. microdon have since been assigned to a new genus, Lonchodraco, while L. sagittirostris has been renamed Serradraco.[13][14] L. platystomus may be a species of Amblydectes
Classification
In Peter Wellnhofer's 1991 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs the other major recent synopsis of pterosaurs, written before Unwin's work, the species are included with Ornithocheirus (because of L. compressirostris being thought to be the type species), and are in fact the main fossils illustrated to represent the genus.[15] Unwin placed them in their own family, Lonchodectidae, which he grouped with the ctenochasmatoids in 2003,[11] and with the azhdarchoids, including the tapejarids and azhdarchids, in 2006.[12]
Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic placement of this genus within Pteranodontia from Andres and Myers (2013).[16]
| Pteranodontia |
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Paleobiology
Lonchodectes had long jaws with many short teeth, and the jaws were compressed vertically, like "a pair of sugar tongs with teeth".[17] Related species (including several taxa formerly included within the genus) had crests on their lower jaws, so the same probably also applied to L. compressirostris.[18]
See also
References
- ↑ Kellner, A.W.A. (2003). Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the group: In: Buffetaut, E., and Mazin, J.-M. (Eds.). Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society Special Publication 217:105-137. 1-86239-143-2.
- ↑ Owen, R. (1851). Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Cretaceous Formations. The Palaeontographical Society 5(11):1-118.
- 1 2 3 Seeley, H.G. (1870). The Ornithosauria: an Elementary Study of the Bones of Pterodactyles. Cambridge, 130 pp.
- ↑ Hooley, R.W. (1914). On the Ornithosaurian genus Ornithocheirus with a review of the specimens from the Cambridge Greensand in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 8, 78:529-557.
- 1 2 3 Unwin, David M. (2001). "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England". Mitteilungen as dem Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe. 4: 189–222.
- ↑ Unwin, D.M. (2008)
- ↑ Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy, Mark P. Witton (2013)
- ↑ Averianov, A.O. (2012). "Ornithostoma sedgwicki – valid taxon of azhdarchoid pterosaurs." Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 316(1): 40–49.
- ↑ Bowerbank, J.S. (1846). On a New Species of Pterodactyl. Found in the Upper Chalk of Kent (P. giganteus). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 2:7–9.
- 1 2 Owen, R. (1874). A Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic Formations. 1. Pterosauria. The Palaeontographical Society Monograph 27:1–14.
- 1 2 Unwin, David M. (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs". In Buffetaut, Eric; Mazin Jean-Michel (eds.). Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society Special Publication 217. London: Geological Society. pp. 139–190. ISBN 1-86239-143-2.
- 1 2 Unwin, D.M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. Pi Press:New York, p. 273. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
- ↑ Rodrigues, T.; Kellner, A. (2013). "Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England". ZooKeys 308: 1. doi:10.3897/zookeys.308.5559. edit
- ↑ Stanislas Rigal; David M. Martill; Steven C. Sweetman (2017). "A new pterosaur specimen from the Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (Cretaceous, Valanginian) of southern England and a review of Lonchodectes sagittirostris (Owen 1874)". In D. W. E. Hone; M. P. Witton; D. M. Martill. New Perspectives on Pterosaur Palaeobiology. The Geological Society of London. doi:10.1144/SP455.5.
- ↑ Wellnhofer, Peter (1996) [1991]. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. pp. 110–113. ISBN 0-7607-0154-7.
- ↑ Andres, B.; Myers, T. S. (2013). "Lone Star Pterosaurs". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: 1. doi:10.1017/S1755691013000303.
- ↑ Unwin, D.M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. Pi Press:New York, p. 251. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
- ↑ Unwin, D.M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. Pi Press:New York, p. 106. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
External links
- Re: Pterosaur Help, a posting from George Olshevsky on the Dinosaur Mailing List, which, although incomplete, should give some idea as to the complexity of the taxonomy here. Additional, even more dubious species are included. Accessed 2007-02-10