Lonchodectidae or LonchodraconidaePêgas, R.V., Holgado, B., Leal, M.E.C., 2019. "''Targaryendraco wiedenrothi'' gen. nov. (Pterodactyloidea, Pteranodontoidea, Lanceodontia) and recognition of a new cosmopolitan lineage of Cretaceous toothed pterodactyloids", ''Historical Biology'', 1–15. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1690482 is a group of

pterosaurs 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 6 ...

within the clade Pterodactyloidea. It has variously been considered to be within

Ctenochasmatoidea Ctenochasmatoidea is a group of early pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Their remains are usually found in what were once coastal or lake environments. They generally had long wings, long necks, and highly specialized teeth. Evol ...

, Azhdarchoidea and Pteranodontia.Witton, M.P., Martill, D.M., and Green, M. (2009). "On pterodactyloid diversity in the British Wealden (Lower Cretaceous) and a reappraisal of “Palaeornis” ''cliftii'' Mantell, 1844." ''Cretaceous Research'', 30: 676–686. They are notable for their high, conical tooth sockets and raised alveolar margins.

Taxonomic history

Ikrandraco-Paleozoological Museum of China

Lonchodectidae was first named by paleontologist

Reginald Walter Hooley Reginald Walter Hooley (5 September 1865 – 5 May 1923) was a businessman and amateur paleontologist, collecting on the Isle of Wight. He is probably best remembered for describing the dinosaur ''Iguanodon atherfieldensis'', now ''Mantellisaurus ...

in 1914, and was first considered to only contain species of '' Lonchodectes''.Unwin, David M. 2001. "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England". ''Mitteilungen as dem Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe'' 4: 189–222 A taxonomic review of pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand in 2013 considered ''Lonchodectes'' a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

'', and named a new family, Lonchodraconidae, for the remaining species, which had been moved to the new genus ''

Lonchodraco ''Lonchodraco'' is a genus of lonchodraconid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern England. The genus includes species that were previously assigned to other genera. Discovery and naming In 1846, James Scott Bowerbank ...

''. '' Yixianopterus'', '' Unwindia'', '' Prejanopterus'', and '' Serradraco'' have also been considered possible lonchodectids. A taxonomic review of Lonchodectidae by Russian paleontologist Alexander Averianov in 2020 limited the clade to '' Ikrandraco'', ''Lonchodectes'', and ''Lonchodraco'', thus finding Lonchodraconidae to be synonymous with the earlier name Lonchodectidae.

Description

The most diagnostic features of Lonchodectidae pertain to the teeth and jaws. The teeth on both the upper and lower jaws are generally small, do not vary in size through the length of the jaw, and are placed on raised alveolar margins. The upper palate has a prominent ridge. One genus, ''Lonchodraco'', has prominent crests at the tips of both the skull and mandible, while another, ''Ikrandraco'', only has a crest on the mandible. Only ''Lonchodraco'' and ''Ikrandraco'' preserve postcrania, which is similar to other lanceodontians.

Classification

The cladogram below is a topology recovered by Longrich and colleagues in 2018. In their analysis, they placed the family Lonchodectidae as the sister taxon of the family

Boreopteridae Boreopteridae (meaning "northern wings") is a group of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. Classification In 2006, Lü Junchang and colleagues named the clade Boreopteridae for the ...

, while also placed within the more inclusive group

Ornithocheiromorpha Ornithocheiromorpha (from Ancient Greek, meaning "bird hand form") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Fossil remains of this group date back from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages ...

.Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018)
"Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary."
''PLoS Biology'', 16(3): e2001663. Other studies including Pêgas ''et al.'' (2019) and Holgado & Pêgas (2020) however, have only included ''Ikrandraco'' and ''Lonchodraco'' in this group, therefore using the name Lonchodraconidae instead.

Paleobiology

Lifestyle

Postcranial material similar to those of azhdarchoids has previously been referred to ''Lonchodectes''; however, this material has later been referred to the azhdarchoid '' Ornithostoma''.Averianov, A.O. (2012). "''Ornithostoma sedgwicki'' – valid taxon of azhdarchoid pterosaurs." ''Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS'', 316(1): 40–49. ''Ikrandraco'' is presumed to have been piscivorous, though this is not completely confirmed. ''Lonchodraco'' bore sensor pits similar to those of modern probe feeding birds; though it appears to be unlikely that it was a probe feeder due to its large size and broad jaw ends, it has been suggested that it similarly procured food items on the ground or in water such as fish or insects.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1837188 Pteranodontoids Prehistoric reptile families