''Doratorhynchus'' is a generic replacement name for ''

Pterodactylus ''Pterodactylus'' (from Greek () meaning 'winged finger') is an extinct genus of pterosaurs. It is thought to contain only a single species, ''Pterodactylus antiquus'', which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying rept ...

validus'', in 1875 suggested by

Harry Govier Seeley Harry Govier Seeley (18 February 1839 – 8 January 1909) was a British paleontologist. Early life Seeley was born in London on 18 February 1839, the second son of Richard Hovill Seeley, a goldsmith, and his second wife Mary Govier. When his fat ...

. Today it is considered a ''

nomen vanum This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Note that many of the abbreviat ...

''. In 1870

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Owe ...

named ''

validus'' based on

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 ...

NHMUK 40653, a thirty centimeter long partial wing finger phalanx from the

Purbeck Limestone Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone. Geology Str ...

(Britain), identified as that of a

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 ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

means "strong" in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. In late December 1868 Seeley had obtained a vertebra and lower jaw (catalogued CAMSM J.5340 and J.5339 respectively) from a quarry near

Langton Matravers Langton Matravers () is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. It is situated about west of Swanage town centre and south-east of Corfe Castle. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had ...

; in 1869 he had informally named these "Pterodactylus macrurus". In 1875, he concluded that the remains were conspecific with ''P. validus'' (he re-identified the vertebra he had previously considered a caudal as belonging to the cervical region), erecting a separate genus name to the species: ''Doratorhynchus'', from Greek ''dory'', "lance" and ''rhynchos'', "snout", referring to the jaw form, so that the full species name became ''Doratorhynchus validus''. Later the species was sometimes assigned to other genera, resulting in the new combinations ''

Ornithocheirus ''Ornithocheirus'' (from Ancient Greek "ὄρνις", meaning ''bird'', and "χεῖρ", meaning ''hand'') is a pterosaur genus known from fragmentary fossil remains uncovered from sediments in the UK and possibly Morocco. Several species have ...

validus'' (Newton 1888) and ''

Cycnorhamphus ''Cycnorhamphus'' (meaning "swan beak") is a genus of gallodactylid ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic period of France and Germany, about 152 million years ago. It is probably synonymous with the genus ''Gallodactylus''. History ...

validus'' (Owen 1870). CAMSM J.5340 indicated that very long-necked forms already lived in the Late

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

(

Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the K ...

) or

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 ...

(

Berriasian In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...

). It was suggested that ''Doratorhynchus'' was a basal member of

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 ...

. However, in 1995 Stafford Howse and Andrew R. Milner concluded that ''Doratorhynchus'' is a ''nomen vanum'' because they noted that the phalanx was not diagnostic enough anyway and only assignable to

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 ...

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''. They assigned CAMSM J.5339 to ''

Gnathosaurus ''Gnathosaurus'' (meaning "jawed lizard") is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur containing two species: ''G. subulatus'', named in 1833 from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany, and ''G. macrurus'', known from the Purbeck Limestone of the UK. I ...

'' as ''G. macrurus'' and CAMSM J.5340 to an indeterminate

ctenochasmatid Ctenochasmatidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They are characterized by their distinctive teeth, which are thought to have been used for filter-feeding. Ctenochasmatids lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early C ...

References

*Owen R., 1870, ''Monograph on the Order Pterosauria'', Palaeontographical Society, London *Seeley H.G.; 1875, "On the Ornithosaurian (''Doratorhynchus validus'') from the Purbeck Limestone of Langton near Swanage", ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London'', 31:465-468 *Lydekker R., 1888, ''Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History)''. I. London, pp. 2–42 *Howse, S.C.B. & Milner A.R., 1995, "The pterodactyloids from the Purbeck Limestone Formation of Dorset", ''Bull. Natural History Museum, London, (Geology)'' 51(1): 73-88 {{Taxonbar, from=Q2614257 Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Europe Taxa named by Harry Seeley Fossil taxa described in 1875

See also

References