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Azhdarchoidea
Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early Cretaceous, Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, ''Tendaguripterus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic period. The largest azhdarchoids include members of the family Azhdarchidae, examples of these are ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Hatzegopteryx'', and ''Arambourgiania''. The Azhdarchoidea has been recovered as either closely related to the Ctenochasmatoidea, as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea within the Ornithocheiroidea, or within the Tapejaroidea, which in turn was also within the Ornithocheiroidea. Classification Azhdarchoidea was given a phylogenetic definition by David Unwin in 2003. Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and ''Tapejara (pterosaur), Tapejara'', and all its descendants.Unwin, D. M., (20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejaroidea
Tapejaroidea (or tapejaroids) is a group of pterosaurs belonging to the clade Ornithocheiroidea. Tapejaroids lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, with one possible member, ''Tendaguripterus'', extending the fossil range to the Late Jurassic period. Tapejaroidea contains two groups, the Dsungaripteridae and the Azhdarchoidea, which in turn includes the azhdarchids, the group that contains some of the largest flying animals. The group was named by Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996. Classification Tapejaroidea was named by paleontologist Alexander Kellner from Brazil in 1996, and in 2003 it was given a phylogenetic definition by Kellner himself as the most recent common ancestor of ''Dsungaripterus'', '' Tapejara'' and ''Quetzalcoatlus'', and all their descendants. Tapejaroidea, in Kellner's 2003 study, was recovered as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea, both within the group Ornithocheiroidea, and consisting of the groups Dsungarip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithocheiroidea
Ornithocheiroidea (or ornithocheiroids) is a group of pterosaurs within the extinct suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were typically large pterosaurs that lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Maastrichtian stages), with fossil remains found all over the world except Antarctica. Ornithocheiroids were the most advanced group of pterosaurs, as the group includes the clade Azhdarchoidea, of which its members lived until the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 66 million years ago. Notable pterosaurs from this group include the pteranodontians ''Pteranodon'' and ''Nyctosaurus'', the ornithocheirid ''Ornithocheirus'', the anhanguerid ''Tropeognathus'', as well as the azhdarchids ''Hatzegopteryx'' and ''Quetzalcoatlus''. Classification The name Ornithocheiroidea was originally defined as an apomorphy-based taxon by Christopher Bennett in 1994. It was given a relationship-based definition in 2003 by Alexander Kellner, who defined it as the least in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dsungaripteridae
Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings. Classification In 1964 Young created a family to place the recently found Chinese genus ''Dsungaripterus''. Later on, also ''Noripterus'' (then now with the name "Phobetor" which was already occupied, therefore the quotation marks) were assigned to the family. In 2003, Alexander Kellner gave the exact definition as a clade:Kellner, A.W.A., 2003. Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the AN group. In: Buffetaut, E., Mazin, J.M. (Eds.), ''Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society, London, Special Publication'' 217, 105–137. the group was composed out of the latest common ancestor of ''Dsungaripterus'', ''Noripterus'' and “Phobetor”, and all its descendants. As synapomorphies he gave the next six characteristics: a relatively small eye-socket, which is pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejarid
Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most primitive genera were found in China, indicating that the family has an Asian origin. Description Tapejarids were small to medium-sized pterosaurs with several unique, shared characteristics, mainly relating to the skull. Most tapejarids possessed a bony crest arising from the snout (formed mostly by the premaxillary bones of the upper jaw tip). In some species, this bony crest is known to have supported an even larger crest of softer, fibrous tissue that extends back along the skull. Tapejarids are also characterized by their large nasoantorbital fenestra, the main opening in the skull in front of the eyes, which spans at least half the length of the entire skull in this family. Their eye sockets were small and pear-shaped. Studies of tapejarid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterosaurs
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger. There were two major types of pterosaurs. Basal pterosaurs (also called 'non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs' or 'rhamphorhynchoids') were smaller animals with fully toothed jaws and, typically, long tails. Their wide wing membranes probably included and connected the hind legs. On the ground, they would have had an awkward sprawling posture, but the anatomy of their joints and strong claws would have made them effective climbers, and some may have even lived in trees. Basal pterosaurs were insectiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassodromidae
Thalassodrominae or Thalassodromidae (meaning "sea runners", due to previous misconceptions of skimming behavior; they are now thought to be terrestrial predators) is a group of azhdarchoid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Its traditional members come from Brazil, however, other possible members also come from other places, including the United States, Morocco, and Argentina. Thalassodrominae is considered either to be a subfamily within the pterosaur family Tapejaridae, or as a distinct family, Thalassodromidae, within the clade Neoazhdarchia, closely related to dsungaripterids or azhdarchids. Classification Thalassodrominae traditionally includes only two genera, ''Thalassodromeus'' and ''Tupuxuara'', and was defined to include them and any other descendants of their most recent common ancestor. The classification of thalassodromines is controversial. Some studies, including one by Lü and colleagues in 2008, have found that the thalassodromines are more closely related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keresdrakon
''Keresdrakon'' is an extinct genus of tapejaromorph pterosaur from the Goio-Erê Formation of Brazil, which dates back to the Late Cretaceous period (Turonian-Campanian stages), 94 to 71 million years ago. ''Keresdrakon'' contains a single species, ''Keresdrakon vilsoni''. Discovery In 1971, Alexandre Dobruski and his son João Gustavo Dobruski, discovered a fossil site near Cruzeiro do Oeste in Paraná. Only in 2011, paleontologists Paulo César Manzig and Luiz C. Weinschütz visited the location. A bone bed proved to be present with hundreds of specimens of a pterosaur that in 2014 was named ''Caiuajara''. Among them were some bones belonging to a second pterosaur species. These remains, both of ''Caiuajara'' and the new taxon, were prepared by volunteer Vilson Greinert. In 2019, the type species ''Keresdrakon vilsoni'' was named and described by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner, Luiz Carlos Weinschütz, Borja Holgado, Renan Alfredo Machado Bantim and Juliana Manso Sayão. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quetzalcoatlus Northropi
''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a genus of pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period of North America (Maastrichtian stage); its members were among the largest known flying animals of all time. ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. Its name comes from the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl. The type species is ''Q. northropi'', named by Douglas Lawson in 1975; the genus also includes the smaller species ''Q. lawsoni'', which was known for many years as an unnamed species before being named by Brian Andres and Wann Langston Jr. (posthumously) in 2021. Discovery and species The first ''Quetzalcoatlus'' fossils were discovered in Texas, United States, from the Maastrichtian Javelina Formation at Big Bend National Park (dated to around 68 million years ago) in 1971 by Douglas A. Lawson, then a geology graduate student from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argentinadraco
''Argentinadraco'' (meaning "Argentina dragon") is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation of Argentina. It contains a single species, ''A. barrealensis'', named in 2017 by Alexander Kellner and Jorge Calvo. ''Argentinadraco'' is unusual for bearing a bottom jaw with a concave bottom edge, as well as a pair of ridges and depressions on the top surface. These features distinguish it from all other azhdarchoid groups, complicating its assignment, but it may belong to the Chaoyangopteridae. The ridges on the lower jaw may have been used to feed on small invertebrates in loose sediment within the system of lakes and rivers that it resided in. Discovery and naming ''Argentinadraco'' is known from a single partial lower jaw, missing the rear end. The specimen is also compressed, especially near the tip of the jaw. Catalogued as MUCPv-1137 in the Centro Paleontológico Lago Barreales (CePaLB) of the National University of Comahue, it wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptostomia
''Leptostomia'' is a genus of long-beaked pterosaur from the mid-Cretaceous (?Albian-Cenomanian) of Morocco, North Africa. The type species is ''L. begaaensis'', which was named and described in 2021 from sediments of the Kem Kem Group in Morocco. It was a small animal with a long, slender bill which is thought to have been used to probe sediments for worms and other invertebrates, similar to kiwi birds and curlews. ''Leptostomia'' is likely a member of the Azhdarchoidea. Etymology In 2021, paleontologists Roy E. Smith, David Michael Martill, Alexander Kao, Samir Zouhri and Nicholas R. Longrich named the pterosaur species ''Leptostomia begaaensis''. The generic name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''leptos'' (meaning "slim"), and ''stoma'' (meaning "mouth"). The specific name refers to the oasis village Hassi El Begaa, near the Aferdou N 'Chaft site where the pterosaur was found. Discovery The holotype specimen of ''Leptostomia'', FSAC-KK 5075, was found in a layer of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quetzalcoatlus
''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a genus of pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period of North America (Maastrichtian stage); its members were among the largest known flying animals of all time. ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. Its name comes from the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl. The type species is ''Q. northropi'', named by Douglas Lawson in 1975; the genus also includes the smaller species ''Q. lawsoni'', which was known for many years as an unnamed species before being named by Brian Andres and Wann Langston Jr. (posthumously) in 2021. Discovery and species The first ''Quetzalcoatlus'' fossils were discovered in Texas, United States, from the Maastrichtian Javelina Formation at Big Bend National Park (dated to around 68 million years ago) in 1971 by Douglas A. Lawson, then a geology graduate student from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea (derived from the Greek words ''πτερόν'' (''pterón'', for usual ''ptéryx'') "wing", and ''δάκτυλος'' (''dáktylos'') "finger" meaning "winged finger", "wing-finger" or "finger-wing") is one of the two traditional suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal (though paraphyletic) rhamphorhynchoids by their short tails and long wing metacarpals (hand bones). The most advanced forms also lack teeth, and by the late Cretaceous, all known pterodactyloids were toothless. Many species had well-developed crests on the skull, a form of display taken to extremes in giant-crested forms like ''Nyctosaurus'' and ''Tupandactylus''. Pterodactyloids were the last surviving pterosaurs when the order became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, together with the non-avian dinosaurs and most marine reptiles. "Pteroda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
