''Wightia'' is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur recovered from the Lower Cretaceous ( Barremian) aged Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight of England, from which it gets its name. The only species within this genus is ''W. declivirostris''.

Discovery and naming

Amateur paleontologist John Winch discovered a pterosaur snout at the east coast of Wight, near the cliff of Yaverland Point at Sandown, in a fossil plant debris layer. In 2020, the type species ''Wightia declivirostris'' was named and described by David Michael Martill, Mick Green, Roy Smith, Megan Jacobs and John Winch. The generic name ''Wightia'' comes from the Isle of Wight in England where the fossil was found. 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 "slanting beak" in Latin, from ''declivis'', "inclining downwards", and ''rostrum'', "snout", referring to the snout kink typical of tapejarids. The holotype, IWCSM. 2020. 401, was found in a layer of the Wessex Formation dating from the Barremian. It consists of partial paired praemaxillae, lacking the snout tip and broken off at the rear before the front edge of the ''fenestra nasoantorbitalis''. The fossil is lightly eroded, transversely compressed and deformed. It is part of the collection of the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology (Dinosaur Isle Visitor Centre).

Description

The species is solely known from the premaxilla. Martill e.a. indicated some distinguishing traits. The occlusal surface (palate) of the snout is pierced by only a limited number of slit-like foramina combined with a single row of foramina parallel to and close to the jaw edge and positioned far apart, at about one opening per centimetre. The snout is appending under an angle of 12°.

Phylogeny

The morphology of the occlusal margin suggests closer affinities of ''Whightia'' with ''

Sinopterus ''Sinopterus'' (meaning "Chinese wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. ...

'' than with the South American tapejarids. The describers place the two, including ''

Eopteranodon ''Eopteranodon'' (meaning "dawn '' Pteranodon'' (toothless wing)") is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao City, Liaoning, China. The genus was named in 2005 by paleontologists Lü Junc ...

'' and '' Huaxiapterus'', in a newly named subfamily of tapejarids called

Sinopterinae Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most primiti ...

Palaeoecology

''Wightia'' inhabited the area presented by southern England's Wessex Formation, at the time a floodplain. The formation contains an abundance of insects like ''

Dungeyella ''Dungeyella'' is an extinct genus of chironomid midge from the Wealden amber of the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, UK, containing the single species ''D. gavini''. it belongs to the subfamily Buchonomyiinae ''Buchonomyia'' is the o ...

''. Herbivores ranged from small mammals like '' Eobaatar'', '' Loxaulax'' and '' Yaverlestes'' to ornithopods, themselves ranging from the small '' Hypsilophodon'' to large iguanodonts like '' Mantellisaurus''. The largest predators of the area and time were the spinosaurid '' Baryonyx'' and the allosauroid '' Neovenator'', as well as the basal tyrannosaur '' Eotyrannus''. ''Wightia'' was most likely an omnivore like other tapejarids.

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, United Kingdom Tapejaromorphs Fossil taxa described in 2020