Raeticodactylus
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Raeticodactylus'' is a
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of non- pterodactyloid
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 late
Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian. Stratigraphic defi ...
-early
Rhaetian The Rhaetian is the latest age of the Triassic Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage of the Triassic System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the Norian and succeeded by the Hettangian (the lowermost stage or earliest age ...
-age Upper Triassic lower Kössen Formation of the central Austroalpine of
Grisons The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. It is known from
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 ...
BNM 14524, a single disarticulated partial skeleton including an almost complete skull, found in August 2005. This genus was named and described in 2008 by its discoverer Rico Stecher; the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is ''Raeticodactylus filisurensis''. 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 ...
refers to
Filisur Filisur is an Alpine village and former municipality in the Albula Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. The village sits on a hillside with a view to the west where the two rivers Albula/Alvra from the Albula Pass and Landwasser ...
. Online First


Description

''Raeticodactylus'' had a tall thin bony crest running along the midline of the front of the upper jaw, and a keel on the lower jaw; however, it does not seem to be closely related to '' Austriadactylus'', the only other crested Triassic pterosaur named by the time ''Raeticodactylus'' was described. The teeth at the front of the upper jaw, in the
premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has b ...
e, were fanglike, whereas the teeth in the upper cheeks (the
maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...
e) had three, four, or five cusps, similar to those of '' Eudimorphodon''. ''Raeticodactylus'' had a wingspan of about 135  centimeters (53  in), and may have been a
piscivore A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...
, potentially feeding by skimming the water. However, skim-feeding has since been disproven in pterosaurs, and the related '' Caviramus'' appears to have been an omnivore.


Classification

A 2009 study by Fabio Dalla Vecchia, which analyzed the relationships within the family
Campylognathoididae Novialoidea (meaning "new wings") is an extinct clade of macronychopteran pterosaurs that lived from the latest Early Jurassic to the latest Late Cretaceous (early Toarcian to late Maastrichtian ageBarrett, P. M., Butler, R. J., Edwards, N. P., ...
, found that ''Raeticodactylus'' is very closely related to '' Caviramus''. ''Caviramus'' is known only from a partial jaw, exhibiting the same type of teeth and unique cavities in the jaw bone, and both specimens come from the same time and place (the Alplihorn Member of the Swiss Kössen Formation). Dalla Vecchia concluded that the two belong to the same genus, and possibly the same species, if the subtle differences (such as size and the presence of a crest in the ''Raeticodactylus'' specimen) are not due to sex or age. A study by Brian Andres ''et al.'' in 2014 concluded that ''Raeticodactylus'' was the sister species of ''Caviramus'' within the family Raeticodactylidae. The following phylogenetic analysis follows the topology of Andres ''et al.'' (2014). In 2020 however, a study upheld by Matthew G. Baron about early pterosaur interrelationships found ''Raeticodactylus'' to group with '' Carniadactylus'', ''Caviramus'', and the clade Austriadraconidae, which in turn were within a larger clade called Caviramidae.Matthew G. Baron (2020). "Testing pterosaur ingroup relationships through broader sampling of avemetatarsalian taxa and characters and a range of phylogenetic analysis techniques". PeerJ. 8: e9604. doi:10.7717/peerj.9604. PMC 7512134. .


See also

* List of pterosaur genera * Timeline of pterosaur research


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1405497 Pterosaurs Late Triassic pterosaurs of Europe Fossil taxa described in 2008 Bergün Filisur