''Gnathosaurus'' (meaning "jawed lizard") is a genus of ctenochasmatid

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 ...

containing two species: ''G. subulatus'', named in 1833 from the Solnhofen Limestone of

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 ...

, and ''G. macrurus'', known 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 ...

of the UK. Its fossil remains dated back to the Late Jurassic period.

History of discovery

Fragments of ''Gnathosaurus'' jaws were first discovered in 1832 in the Solnhofen

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s of southern

but were mistaken for a piece of

teleosaurid Teleosauridae is a family of extinct typically marine crocodylomorphs similar to the modern gharial that lived during the Jurassic period. Teleosaurids were thalattosuchians closely related to the fully aquatic metriorhynchoids, but were less ad ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

jaw by

Georg zu Münster Count Georg Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm zu Münster (german: Georg Graf zu Münster; 17 February 1776 – 23 December 1844) was a German paleontologist. Biography Münster was born on 17 February 1776, in Langelage near Osnabrück. In 1800, he be ...

, who first named the species ''Crocodilus multidens'' in that year. Soon afterwards, Hermann von Meyer classified the same specimen as the new genus and species ''Gnathosaurus subulatus'', a name which came to be universally used shortly thereafter. In the 1860s, scientists such as Albert Oppel compared the ''G. subulatus'' jaw fragment to contemporary pterosaurs such as '' Pterodactylus'' and '' Ctenochasma'', and concluded that it was also probably a "flying reptile" rather than a crocodilian.Oppel, A. (1862). ''Paleontologische Mittheilungen aus dem museum der Koenigl, Paleontologische Mittheilungen aus dem museum der Koenigl''. Ebner & Seubert. A more complete skull of an adult pterosaur was found in 1951 and classified as ''Gnathosaurus subulatus''. This slender, long skull had up to 130 needle-like teeth arranged around the side of a spoon-shaped tip. The specimen had an estimated wingspan of about . It probably lead a lifestyle akin to that of modern

spoonbill Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...

s, wading with its jaws open and closing them upon touching small prey.Wilton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton University Press. . Possible juvenile specimens of ''G. subulatus'' may be known from several complete skeletons that had previously been classified as the separate species ''Pterodactylus micronyx''. These specimens have also been referred to the genus '' Aurorazhdarcho'', which may itself be a synonym of ''Gnathosaurus''. However, because ''Gnathosaurus subulatus'' is currently known only from skulls and jaws, and adult ''Aurorazhdarcho micronyx'' known only from a skeleton lacking a skull, the two cannot be confidently referred to the same species. Furthermore, in the only cladistic analysis to date that tests the relationships of both taxa they are found distinct. An additional large specimen, originally named ''Pterodactylus macrurus'', is known from the

formation of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Represented only by a partial lower jaw and neck vertebrae, it has since been considered closer to ''Gnathosaurus'', and its binomial changed to ''G. macrurus''.Howse S. C. B. and Milner A. R., 1995, The Pterodactyloids from the Purbeck Limestone Formation of Dorset. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. London. (Geol) 51(1): 73-88.

Classification

Below is cladogram following a topology by Andres, Clark and Xu (2014). In the analysis, they recovered both species of ''Gnathosaurus'' (''G. subulatus'' and ''G. macrurus'') within the family Ctenochasmatidae, more precisely within the subfamily Gnathosaurinae, as sister taxa.

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Germany, United Kingdom Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe Ctenochasmatoids Solnhofen fauna Taxa named by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer Fossil taxa described in 1833

History of discovery

Classification

See also

References