''Bennettazhia'' is a genus of

tapejaromorph Tapejaromorpha is a group of pterosaurs within the clade Azhdarchoidea. The fossil remains of tapejaromorphs dated back to the Cretaceous period. The Tapejaromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues. They made Tapejaromorpha the most ...

pterosaur 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 ...

from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

period of what is now the

Hudspeth Formation The Hudspeth Formation is a Cretaceous sedimentary Geological formation, rock formation, found in Oregon of the United States of America. The formation dates to the Albian age of the Early Cretaceous period. During the Albian much of this formation ...

of the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the United States. Although originally identified as a species of the

pteranodontoid Pteranodontoidea (or pteranodontoids, from Greek meaning "toothless wings") is an extinct clade of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the Early to Late Cretaceous (early Valanginian to late Maastrichtian stages) of Asia, Africa, Europe, North Americ ...

pterosaur ''

Pteranodon ''Pteranodon'' (); from Ancient Greek (''pteron'', "wing") and (''anodon'', "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with ''P. longiceps'' having a wingspan of . They lived during the late Cr ...

'', ''Bennettazhia'' is now thought to have been a different animal. The type and only species is ''B. oregonensis''.

Discovery and history

In 1928, Charles Gilmore named a new species of ''

'': ''P. oregonensis''. A

humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...

(

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

MPUC V.126713), two fused dorsal vertebrae and the broken-off end of some joint bone had been unearthed from the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

( Albian stage) beds of the

Wheeler County Wheeler County is the name of several counties in the United States: * Wheeler County, Georgia * Wheeler County, Nebraska * Wheeler County, Oregon * Wheeler County, Texas Wheeler County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of t ...

, in the state of

, United States, to which the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

refers. Gilmore noted similarities to '' Nyctosaurus'' though the specimens were larger. In 1989, S. Christopher Bennett concluded that the remains might be those of a member of the

Azhdarchidae Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cret ...

instead of a

pteranodontid The Pteranodontidae are a Family (biology), family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America and Africa. The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a distinctive, elongated crest jutting from the ...

. Russian paleontologist

Lev Nesov Lev may refer to: Common uses * Bulgarian lev, the currency of Bulgaria *an abbreviation for Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible and the Torah People and fictional characters * Lev (given name) *Lev (surname) Places *Lev, Azerbaijan, ...

therefore in 1991 named a new azhdarchid genus: ''Bennettazhia''. The genus name honors Bennett and combines his name with

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

''azhdarha'', "dragon", a reference to ''

Azhdarcho ''Azhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation (middle Turonian stage, about 92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan. It is known from ...

'', the type genus of the Azhdarchidae. Bennett himself in 1994 changed his opinion and stated that it belonged to the Dsungaripteridae. Wellnhofer (1991), Peters (1997), Kellner (2003) and Unwin (2003) left it as belonging to the Pterodactyloidea '' incertae sedis''.

Description

In 2007, American biologist Michael Habib revealed the result of a study by

CAT-scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

of the type specimen of ''Bennettazhia''. The humerus, long, is uncrushed, which is uncommon for a pterosaur fossil and therefore offered a rare opportunity to investigate the bone structure. Apart from the thin bone wall, the humerus was filled with a spongy tissue consisting of trabeculae, very thin bone layers and struts, forming a light yet strong construction. Habib inferred that such strength would have allowed even very large pterosaurs to launch themselves from the ground using their forelimbs. The same investigation made a better classification possible. The humerus has an elongated deltopectoral crest that is unwarped. Both dsungaripterids and azhdarchoids show this feature, but only the latter group is typified by such a very thin outer bone wall. Habib concluded that ''Bennettazhia'' was a member of the Azhdarchoidea, a more encompassing group than the Azhdarchidae.

Classification

The cladogram below follows a 2014 phylogenetic analysis by Brian Andres and colleagues. In the analysis, they placed ''Bennettazhia'' within the clade

Tapejaromorpha Tapejaromorpha is a group of pterosaurs within the clade Azhdarchoidea. The fossil remains of tapejaromorphs dated back to the Cretaceous period. The Tapejaromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues. They made Tapejaromorpha the most ...

, as the

basalmost In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the ''base'' (or root) of a rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to nodes regarded as being close to th ...

member.

References

*Gilmore C. W. (1928), "A new Pterosaurian reptile from the marine Cretaceous of Oregon", ''Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.'' 73, art. 24, 1–5 *Bennett S. C. 1989, "Pathologies of the large pterodactyloid pterosaurs ''Ornithocheirus'' and ''Pteranodon''", ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 9: 13A *Nesov, L. A. (1991), "Gigantskiye lyetayushchiye yashchyeryi semyeistva Azhdarchidae. I. Morfologiya, sistematika", ''Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta'', Seriya. 7; Geologiya, Geografiya (2), 14–23 *Bennett S. C. (1994), "Taxonomy and systematics of the Late Cretaceous pterosaur ''Pteranodon'' (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea)", ''Occ. Pap. Nat. Hist. Mus. Univ. Kansas'' 169 *Michael Habib (2007), "Structural characteristics of the humerus of ''Bennettazhia oregonensis'' and their implications for specimen diagnosis and azhdarchoid biomechanics", p. 16 in: ''Flugsaurier: The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting'', Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology, Munich 2007, bstract

External links

The Pterosaur Database (pdf)
{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, United States Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of North America Tapejaromorphs Early Cretaceous reptiles of North America Fossil taxa described in 1991 Fossil taxa described in 1928

Discovery and history

Description

Classification

See also

References

External links