''Dawndraco'' is a controversial

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

pteranodontid The Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America and possibly other continents including Europe and Africa. The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a distinctive, elon ...

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 ...

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It is likely synonymous with the contemporary pteranodontid ''

Geosternbergia ''Pteranodon sternbergi'' is an extinct species of the pteranodontid pterodactyloid pterosaur genus ''Pteranodon'' from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America. ''P. sternbergi'' was among the largest pterosaurs, with a wingspan ...

.''

''Dawndraco'' was named by Alexander W.A. Kellner in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

is ''Dawndraco kanzai''. The generic name combines the Dawn deity of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

with a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''draco'', "dragon". 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 the Kanza tribe of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. ''Dawndraco'' is based on the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen UALVP 24238, a partial

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

including an almost complete

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

and lower jaws. It was recovered in 1974 by Richard C. Fox and Allen Lindoe from rocks of the lower part of the

Smoky Hill Chalk Member The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a Cretaceous conservation Lagerstätte, or fossil rich geological member, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved marine reptiles. Named for the Smoky Hill River, the Smo ...

of the

Niobrara Formation The Niobrara Formation , also called the Niobrara Chalk, is a geologic formation in North America that was deposited between 87 and 82 million years ago during the Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous. It is com ...

Utica, Kansas Utica is a city in Ness County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 99. History The first post office in Utica was established in 1879. Utica was named by early pioneer C.W. Bell who was from Utica ...

. These rocks date to the late

Coniacian The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by ...

or early

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

stage, about 86 million years ago. The specimen was earlier referred to ''

Pteranodon ''Pteranodon'' (; from and ) is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with ''P. longiceps'' having a wingspan of over . They lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America in presen ...

sternbergi''. However, when Kellner in 2010 assigned this latter species to the genus ''

'', he concluded that specimen UALVP 24238 was too different from it to be accounted for by individual variation or

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

and therefore named a separate genus. A unique trait is that the snout does not strongly taper anteriorly as with ''Pteranodon'', the upper and lower margins running almost parallel instead. Kellner further argued that the provenance of the specimen - from rock units between those of other ''Pteranodon'' holotypes - supported his interpretation of morphological differences as being taxonomic in nature, rather than relating to growth or gender. '''Dawndraco was assigned by Kellner to the

Pteranodontidae The Pteranodontidae are a Family (biology), family of large pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America and possibly other continents including Europe and Africa. The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a ...

. In a detailed description and discussion of UALVP 24238, Martin-Silverstone ''et al.'' (2017) concluded that '''D. kanzai''' was not a distinct genus or species from ''Pteranodon.'' They showed that its taxonomic characterisations were suspect or erroneous, and that stratigraphic arguments used to further distinguish '''D. kanzai from other pteranodontids were questionable when compared to the geologic ranges of other Smoky Hill Chalk species. They concluded that UALVP 24238 is better interpreted as a small (not fully osteologically mature) individual of the larger size-class (male) of ''

Pteranodon sternbergi ''Pteranodon sternbergi'' is an extinct species of the pteranodontid pterodactyloid pterosaur genus ''Pteranodon'' from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America. ''P. sternbergi'' was among the largest pterosaurs, with a wingspan ...

''. Their interpretation echoes sceptism expressed about the 2010 ''Pteranodon'' revision from other palaeontologists, several of whom have continued to use pre-2010 taxonomies when discussing the Smoky Hill Chalk pteranodonts. In 2014, Andres, Clark, and Xu stated that they would continue to follow the pre-2010 taxonomy of pteranodontids, and referred the new species named by Kellner, including ''Dawndraco'', back to their original classifications following Bennett.

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, United States Late Cretaceous pterosaurs of North America Pteranodontia Fossil taxa described in 2010 Taxa named by Alexander Kellner

See also

References