Normannognathus

''Normannognathus'' is a genus of pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-age Upper Jurassic Argiles d'Octeville Formation of France. Initially, ''Normannognathus'' was classified to the family Germanodactylidae, sister taxon to ''Germanodactylus'', however, many recent analysis have recovered ''Normannognathus'' in different phylogenetic positions, and depending on different authors, ''Normannognathus'' is either found as a basal member of the Dsungaripteroidea, as an indeterminate monofenestratan, or as the sister taxon of ''Cycnorhamphus'' within the family Gallodactylidae.

Discovery and naming

In 1993, Jean-Jacques Lepage on the Normandy coast at the Cap de la Hève, near Ecqueville, Octeville-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, found a ten centimetres long fossil of a pterosaur in a marine claystone layer.

In 1998, Eric Buffetaut ''et al.'' named a separate genus for it. The type species is ''Normannognathus wellnhoferi''. The genus name is derived from ''Normannia'', the Medieval Latin name for Normandy, and Greek ''gnathos'', "jaw". The specific name honors Peter Wellnhofer. The genus is based on holotype Musée Géologique Cantonal de Lausanne 59'583, the left front portion of a skull and the associated, but not articulated to it, lower jaws.

Description

The snout is low and pointed, and curves upward. Only the part in front of the nostrils has remained. On the back top of this part a very tall bony crest is present. It abruptly juts out from the premaxillae, formed like a crested wave, having a concave leading margin. After its rounded tip it gradually curves downwards again towards the skull top; its further shape is unknown because at this point the fossil ends. The crest is flat, running down the midline of the upper jaw and shows a fibrous texture that could be indicative of some covering, such as a horn sheath.

The teeth are robust, and not very elongated. They continue to be present until the very tip of the jaws. The tooth count is five per premaxilla; the number is at least nine for the maxilla, and at least fourteen per dentary: no reliable estimates can be given of the last two totals because the back of the head has been lost.

Classification

The describers assigned ''Normannognathus'' to the Germanodactylidae because it was most similar to ''Germanodactylus'', with the exception that it resembles ''Dsungaripterus'' in having an abrupt beginning to a crest larger than that in ''Germanodactylus'' and possessing an upward pointing snout.Buffetaut, E., Lepage, J.-J., and Lepage, G. (1998). A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian of the Cap de la Hève (Normandy, France). ''Geological Magazine'' 135(5):719–722. David Unwin in 2006 considered it a basal member of the Dsungaripteroidea. In 2015 however, Witton ''et al.'' concluded that it is an indeterminate monofenestratan, noting that it shares some characters with ctenochasmatoids, yet shares other characters with non-pterodactyloid monofenestratans. In 2018 however, Longrich ''et al.'' found ''Normannognathus'' to be the sister taxon of ''Cycnorhamphus'' within the family Gallodactylidae, which in turn was within the Ctenochasmatoidea. Their cladogram is shown below.Longrich, N.R.; Martill, D.M.; Andres, B.B. (2018). "Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary". PLOS Biology. 16 (3): e2001663. . PMC 5849296 Freely accessible.

See also

* List of pterosaur genera
* Timeline of pterosaur research

References

External links

''Normannognathus''
in The Pterosauria

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, France

Monofenestrata
Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe
Fossil taxa described in 1998
Taxa named by Éric Buffetaut