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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. 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 limestones of southern Germany but were mistaken for a piece of teleosaurid crocodile jaw by Georg zu Münster, 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 reptil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pterodactylus
''Pterodactylus'' (from ) is a genus of extinct 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 reptile and one of the first prehistoric reptiles to ever be discovered. Fossil remains of ''Pterodactylus'' have primarily been found in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany, which dates from the Late Jurassic period (Tithonian stage), about 150.8 to 148.5 million years ago. More fragmentary remains of ''Pterodactylus'' have tentatively been identified from elsewhere in Europe and in Africa. ''Pterodactylus'' was a generalist carnivore that probably fed on a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. Like all pterosaurs, ''Pterodactylus'' had wings formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges. ''Pterodactylus'' was a small pteros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ctenochasma
''Ctenochasma'' (meaning "comb jaw") is a genus of Late Jurassic ctenochasmatid pterosaur belonging to the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Three species are currently recognized: ''C. roemeri'' (named after Friedrich Adolph Roemer), ''C. taqueti'', and ''C. elegans''. Their fossilized remains have been found in the Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria, Germany, the "Purbeck Group" of northeastern Germany, and the Calcaires tâchetés of eastern France. History The name ''Ctenochasma'' was coined by the German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1851, based on a single lower jaw full of closely packed teeth which he gave the species name ''Ctenochasma roemeri''.von Meyer, C.E.H. (1851). "''Ctenochasma Roemeri''." ''Paläontographica'', 2: 82–84 & pl. 13. Von Meyer did not consider the specimen to belong to a pterosaur; instead, he compared it to ''Gnathosaurus'', which at that time was considered to be a crocodilian. A second species, ''C. gracile'', was named by Oppel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Aurorazhdarcho
''Aurorazhdarcho'' is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatoid pterosaur Pterosaurs are 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 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ... known from the Late Jurassic period (early Tithonian stage) of what is now Bavaria, southern Germany. History First discovery A specimen, originally classified as ''Pterodactylus micronyx'' (now ''Aurorazhdarcho micronyx''), was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, documented pterosaur fossil ever found. The holotype specimen of ''P. micronyx'', also known as the "Pester Exemplar", was originally part of the private fossil collection held by Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1738–1789), Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria. Evidence suggest that the Pester Exemplar was unearthed at some point between 1757, when Maria Anna was recovering from serious cases ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Huanhepterus
''Huanhepterus'' is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now Qingyang, Gansu, China. History The genus was named by Dong Zhiming in 1982. The type species is ''Huanhepterus quingyangensis''. The genus name refers to the Huang Jian (not the Yellow River or "Huang He", but a smaller tributary of the Jinghe River in Gansu), and combines it with a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name refers to Qinyang County. ''Huanhepterus'' is based on the holotype specimen, IVPP V9070, a partial articulated skeleton consisting mostly of impressions of the left half of the body and the beak-end of the skull. The fossil was in May 1978 found in a quarry operated by the Sanshilipu- commune, when an explosion exposed a vertebra. Its force obliterated the right half of the specimen. IVPP V9070 hails from the Early Cretaceous-age Hanhe-Huachi Formation of the Zhidan Group. Description ''Huanhepterus'' had a lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Forfexopterus
''Forfexopterus'' (meaning "scissor wings") is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in China. It contains a single species, ''F. jeholensis'', named from a mostly complete skeleton by Shunxing Jiang and colleagues in 2016. A second specimen, consisting of a wing, was described in 2020. While the first specimen is larger, it shows signs of being less mature than the second specimen, indicating that the developmental trajectories of ''Forfexopterus'' were variable. Like other ctenochasmatids, ''Forfexopterus'' had a long, low skull filled with many slender teeth; unlike other members of the group, however, it did not have a spatula-shaped snout tip or crests, and its teeth were more curved. A single characteristic distinguishes ''Forfexopterus'' from all other members of the wider group Archaeopterodactyloidea: of the four phalanx bones in its wing finger, the first was shorter than the second but longer than the third. Discovery and nami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tacuadactylus
''Tacuadactylus'' is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic of Uruguay. Discovery and naming A snout found near Batoví was in 2016 reported as a saw fish, the oldest known member of the Pristidae. Subsequently, a CAT-scan showed that the presumed perpendicular teeth of the fossil were in fact sediment fillings of the tooth sockets, which themselves pointed obliquely to the front as with pterosaurs. In 2018, the specimen was described as the first pterosaur found in Uruguay but not yet named.Daniel Perea, Matías Soto, Pablo Toriño, Valeria Mesa & John G. Maisey, (2018), "A Late Jurassic-?earliest Cretaceous ctenochasmatid (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea): The first report of pterosaurs from Uruguay", ''Journal of South American Earth Sciences'' 85: 298-306 In 2021, the type species ''Tacuadactylus luciae'' was named and described by Matías Soto, Felipe Montenegro, Pablo Toriño, Valeria Mesa and Daniel Perea. The generic name combines a reference to the lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 Cretaceous periods. The earliest known ctenochasmatid remains date to the Late Jurassic Kimmeridgian age. Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae,Buffetaut, E. and Jeffrey, P. (2012). "A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." ''Geological Magazine'', (advance online publication) though further examination suggested it actually belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur. Classification Below is cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ctenochasmatidae
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 Cretaceous periods. The earliest known ctenochasmatid remains date to the Late Jurassic Kimmeridgian age. Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae,Buffetaut, E. and Jeffrey, P. (2012). "A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." ''Geological Magazine'', (advance online publication) though further examination suggested it actually belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur. Classification Below is cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Feilongus
''Feilongus'' is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian–Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao, Liaoning, China. Discovery and naming The genus was named and described in 2005 by Wang Xiaolin, Alexander Kellner, Zhou Zhonghe and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The type species is ''Feilongus youngi''. The genus name is derived from '' Feilong'', the "flying dragon". The specific name honors the Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (C. C. Young). ''Feilongus'' is based on holotype IVPP V-12539, a skull and articulated mandible, with on the same plate the detached posterior braincase, of a subadult individual. The fossil is strongly crushed. In 2014, a second specimen, DNMHM D3068 found at Gonggao, was referred to a ''Feilongus'' sp. It consists of a skull with lower jaws and four neck vertebrae. It was a possible subadult or, despite a smaller size, adult. Description The wingspan of ''Feilongus'' was estimated by Wan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gladocephaloideus
''Gladocephaloideus'' is a genus of ctenochasmatid Ctenochasmatoidea, ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (early Aptian stage) of what is now western Liaoning, China. Discovery ''Gladocephaloideus'' is known from a complete skull and partial postcranial skeleton including traces of hair-like pycnofibres. It was collected from the Yixian Formation, Jingangshan Bed of the Yixian Formation, dating to the early Aptian stage, about 121 mya (unit), million years ago. It was named by Lü Junchang, Ji Qiang, Wei Xuefang and Liu Yongqing in 2012 in paleontology, 2012 and the type species is ''Gladocephaloideus jingangshanensis''. The generic name is derived from Latin ''gladius'', "sword", and Greek κεφαλή, ''kephalè'', "head", en εἶδος, ''eidos'', "form", referring to the elongated form of the skull. The specific name (zoology), specific name refers to the provenance from the Jiangangshan. The holotype, IG-CAGS-08-07, includes the almost complete sku ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Elanodactylus
''Elanodactylus'' (meaning "Kite finger") is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (early Aptian stage) of what is now the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. Discovery and naming The genus was named in 2008 by Brian Andres and Ji Qiang. The type species is ''Elanodactylus prolatus''. The generic name is derived from the Kite genus ''Elanus'', in reference to the long wings, and Greek ''daktylos'', "finger", referring to the wing finger of pterosaurs. The specific name means "elongated" in Latin, in reference to the elongated middle cervical vertebrae. It is known from a partial postcranial skeleton, holotype NGMC 99-07-1, preserving the wings, sternum, shoulder girdle, ribs, cervical and dorsal vertebrae. It represents an adult individual. In 2010, a second adult was described, specimen LPM-R00078, also a skeleton lacking the skull. Description The wingspan of the holotype was about , and it is estimated to have weighed . The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
