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Ctenochasmatine
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] |
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, ''Malm'' was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. Subdivisions The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: Paleogeography During the Late Jurassic Epoch, Pangaea broke up into two supercontinents, Laurasia to the north, and Gondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the emergence of the Atlantic Ocean, which initially was relatively narrow. Life forms This epoch is well known for many famous types of d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petrodactyle
''Petrodactyle'' (meaning "stone finger") is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Mörnsheim Formation (Solnhofen limestone) of Bavaria, Germany. The genus contains a single species, ''P. wellnhoferi'', known from a partial skeleton belonging to a subadult individual. ''Petrodactyle'' is one of the largest Solnhofen pterosaurs and one of the largest Jurassic pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of . Discovery and naming The holotype and only known specimen, LF 2809, was recovered from the "Dritte Rosa" layer of the Mörnsheim Formation, near Mühlheim in Bavaria, Germany. The specimen was initially discovered in a public visitor's quarry by Günther Zehetner and excavated by quarry owners Roland Pöschl and Uli Leonhard. LF 2809 was acquired by the Lauer Foundation for Paleontology, Science and Education in 2015 and is permanently deposited in their collections. In 2023, Hone et al. described ''Petrodactyle wellnhoferi'' as a new genus and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
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] |
Spathagnathus
''Spathagnathus'' (meaning "spatula jaw") is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. The type species, type and only species is ''Spathagnathus roeperi'', known from a single jawbone. It is the oldest known member of Gnathosaurinae, and the second pterosaur from the Solnhofen's Brunn quarry after the rhamphorhynchid ''Bellubrunnus''. The unique dental anatomy of the taxon is thought to indicate a diet of tough, hard-shelled prey items. Discovery and naming In 1993, Simone Kaulfuß, Maren Sendelbach and Andreas Heiner, students at the ''Schule für Präparationstechnische Assistenten'' in Bochum, in the chalk quarry of Brunn, Upper Palatinate, Brunn discovered a pterosaur snout. Starting in 1993, the quarry was systematically being excavated under the direction of Martin Röper and Monika Rothgaenger. Pterosaur finds were rare, with the exception of the type specimen of ''Bellubrunnus''. The snout fossil was accessioned by the Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plataleorhynchus
''Plataleorhynchus'' is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous periods (Tithonian to Berriasian stages) of what is now the Purbeck Limestone of Dorset, England. History and etymology ''Plataleorhynchus'' is based on holotype NHMUK R.11957 (earlier BMNH R.11957), an incomplete anterior upper jaw with teeth found in a chalkstone quarry near Langton Matravers.Howse, S.C.B., and Milner, A.R. (1995). The pterodactyloids from the Purbeck Limestone Formation of Dorset. ''Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, London (Geology)'' 51(1):73-88. The fossil is present on a plate; its underside is visible. It was previously part of the Corfe Castle Museum and then the Dorset County Museum during the 1950s before the Natural History Museum purchased the specimen in 1958. It was undescribed prior to 1995. The genus was named in 1995 by Stafford Howse and Andrew Milner. The type species is ''Plataleorhynchus streptophorodon''. The genus na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lusognathus
''Lusognathus'' (meaning "Lusitanian jaw") is an extinct genus of gnathosaurine pterosaurs from the Late Jurassic Lourinhã Formation of Portugal. The genus contains a single species, ''Lusognathus almadrava'', known from a parts of the upper jaw, teeth, and cervical vertebrae. Discovery and naming The ''Lusognathus'' holotype specimen, ML 2554, was in November 2018 discovered by amateur paleontologist Filipe Vieira in the Lourinhã Formation of Lisbon Region, Portugal, on the Praia do Caniçal, in Lourinhã. The formation dates from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, and the fossil is about 149.2 million years old. In March 2019, the Museu da Lourinhã carried out further excavations uncovering additional elements of the same specimen. Vieira donated the original find to the museum. The specimen was prepared by Carla Alexandra Tomás, Micael Martinho, Laura de Jorge and Carla Hernandez. It consists of an incomplete premaxillary rostrum, a fragment of the maxillae, two isolated partia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Garudapterus
''Garudapterus'' (meaning "Garuda wing") is a genus (biology), genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Thailand. The type species, type and only species is ''G. buffetauti'', named after the palaeontologist Éric Buffetaut for his longstanding contributions to Thai palaeontology. ''Garudapterus'' is known from a partial Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum and associated tooth fragments discovered in 2023 and named in 2025, making it the first pterosaur species to be named from South-East Asia. It belonged to the gnathosaurine lineage of pterosaurs, possessing a spatulate rostrum and elongate teeth, and is distinguished by the keeled shape and diamond-shaped tip of its jaw. Preserved in an ancient river channel at the Phra Pong locality in rocks of the Khorat Group, it would have lived in a freshwater floodplain ecosystem amongst dinosaurs and other Early Cretaceous animals. Discovery and naming The Phra Prong geologic locality in the Phanom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterodaustro
''Pterodaustro'' (from Greek language, Greek , and Latin , ) is a genus of ctenochasmatid Pterodactyloidea, pterodactyloid pterosaur from South America. Its fossil remains dated back to the Early Cretaceous period, about 105 million years ago. Discovery and naming The first fossils, among them the holotype PVL 2571, a thigh bone, were discovered during the late 1960s by José Bonaparte in the Lagarcito Formation, situated in the San Luis Province of Argentina, and dating from the Albian. The genus was subsequently reported in Chile from the Quebrada La Carreta locality, in the Sierra da Candeleros, Segunda Región de Antofagsta, but this turned out to be erroneous; the fossils belong another pterosaur, the dsungaripterid ''Domeykodactylus ceciliae''. At the Argentine site, the just large "Loma del ''Pterodaustro''", since then, during several expeditions, over 750 ''Pterodaustro'' specimens have been collected, 288 of them having been catalogued until 2008. This makes the sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gegepterus
''Gegepterus'' is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. Only one species is known, ''G. changi''. History and etymology The genus was named in 2007 by Wang Xiaolin, Alexander Kellner, Zhou Zhonge and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The type species is ''Gegepterus changi''. The generic name is derived from Manchu ''ge ge'', the title of a princess, in reference to the dainty gracility of the specimen, and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name honors female paleontologist Chang Meemann, who over the years established a cordial relationship between the Chinese and Brazilian authors. In 2008 Wang emended the epithet to ''changae'', but such changes are no longer allowed by the ICZN. It is known from two specimens. The first is holotype IVPP V 11981, which was in 2001 found in grey shales from the lower part of the formation (estimated at 125 million years old), near the city of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eosipterus
''Eosipterus'' is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Liaoning, China. Fossil remains of ''Eosipterus'' dated back to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous, 125 million years ago. History and etymology The genus was named in 1997 by Ji Shu'an and Ji Qiang. The type species is ''Eosipterus yangi''. The genus name is derived from Greek ''eos'', "dawn" and Greek ''pteron'', "wing" with a Latin ending; and a grammar error: normally the combination would have resulted in "eopterus". The "dawn" element refers to its age but also to China being "in the east". The specific name honours paleontologist Yang Daihuan. The genus is based on the holotype specimen, GMV2117, found near Jinggangshan in western Liaoning Province, in the Yixian Formation. It was the first pterosaur discovered in that region. It consists of a partial crushed skeleton of a subadult individual on a slab, lacking skull and neck. Most vertebrae have been severely damag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
