''Altmuehlopterus'' (meaning "Altmühl River wing") is a genus of

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 ...

belonging to the

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 ...

. It lived in the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

of what is now

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was formerly known as "Daitingopterus" (meaning " Daiting Wing"), a '' nomen nudum'', informally coined in 2004.

Discovery and naming

In 1851,

Johann Andreas Wagner Johann Andreas Wagner (21 March 1797 – 17 December 1861) was a German palaeontologist, zoologist and archaeologist who wrote several important works on palaeontology. Career Wagner was a professor at the University of Munich, and curator ...

named a new species of ''Ornithocephalus'' (a now-obsolete name for the genus ''

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 ...

''), ''Ornithocephalus ramphastinus''. The specific name referred to the

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

genus ''

Ramphastos ''Ramphastos'' is a genus of toucans, tropical and subtropical near passerine birds from Mexico, and Central and South America (with one species occurring in the Caribbean), which are brightly marked and have enormous, often colourful, bills.Sh ...

'', in view of the large beak-like snout of the pterosaur. In 1859/1860,

Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer (3 September 1801 – 2 April 1869), known as Hermann von Meyer, was a German palaeontologist. He was awarded the 1858 Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London. Life He was born at Frankfurt am Ma ...

corrected the specific name to ''rhamphastinus''. Although this was incorrect by modern standards, the new spelling has become valid by being accepted and used by subsequent authors, under article ICZN 33.3.1. The

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 sever ...

, BSP AS.I.745, was probably found at Mörnsheim near Daiting in a layer of the '' Malm Zeta 3'', dating from the Tithonian. It consists of a partly articulated skeleton with skull, preserved on a plate and counterplate. In 1871,

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 ...

included the specimen in the type material of ''

Diopecephalus ''Diopecephalus'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) of the Lithographic Limestone, Bavaria, Germany. The type and only species is ''D. kochi'', although the name has been applied to ''Pterodactylus l ...

'', without, however, designating it as the holotype of this genus. For this reason,

Peter Wellnhofer Peter Wellnhofer (born Munich, 1936) is a German paleontologist at the Bayerische Staatssammlung fur Paläontologie in Munich. He is best known for his work on the various fossil specimens of ''Archaeopteryx'' or "Urvogel", the first known bird. W ...

felt free to name the specimen as a second species of ''

Germanodactylus ''Germanodactylus'' ("German finger") is a genus of germanodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from Upper Jurassic-age rocks of Germany, including the Solnhofen Limestone. Its specimens were long thought to pertain to ''Pterodactylus''. The head ...

'' in 1970: ''Germanodactylus rhamphastinus''.Wellnhofer, P., 1970, "Die Pterodactyloidea (Pterosauria) der Oberjura- Plattenkalke Süddeutschlands", ''Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Wissenschaftlichen Klasse'', Abhandlungen 141:133 pp In 2004, Michael Maisch e.a. concluded that it represented a new genus, which they indicated as "Daitingopterus" in a diagram. It remained a ''nomen nudum''. In 2017, Steven Vidovic and David Martill validly named a separate genus ''Altmuehlopterus''. The generic name combines a reference to the river Altmühl, running through

Solnhofen Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the ' of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley. The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen limest ...

, with a Latinised Greek ''pteron'', "wing".

References

External links

Restoration of "Daitingopterus"
at The Grave Yard {{taxonbar, from=Q3501878 Pterodactyloids Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe Fossil taxa described in 2017 Taxa named by Johann Andreas Wagner

Discovery and naming

See also

References

External links