''Scaphognathus'' was a

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...

that lived around

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

during the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the ...

. It had a wingspan of 0.9 m (3 ft).

Naming

The first known ''Scaphognathus'' specimen was described in 1831 by

August Goldfuss Georg August Goldfuss (Goldfuß, 18 April 1782 – 2 October 1848) was a German palaeontologist, zoologist and botanist. Goldfuss was born at Thurnau near Bayreuth. He was educated at Erlangen, where he graduated PhD in 1804 and became profes ...

who mistook the tailless specimen for a new ''Pterodactylus'' species: ''P. crassirostris''. The specific name means "fat snout" in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

. This specimen was an incomplete adult with a 0.9 m (3 ft) wingspan recovered from the Solnhofen strata near

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

. In 1858

Johann Wagner Johann Peter Alexander Wagner (c.26 February 1730 – 7 January 1809) was a German rococo sculptor. Life Wagner was born in Theres, Unterfranken, Bavaria, Germany and was initially trained by his father, Johann Thomas Wagner. In 1747 he took ...

referred the species to ''

Rhamphorhynchus ''Rhamphorhynchus'' (, from Ancient Greek ''rhamphos'' meaning "beak" and ''rhynchus'' meaning "snout") is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such ...

''. After recognising the fundamentally different snout shape, Wagner, after previous failed attempts by

Leopold Fitzinger Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an Austrian zoologist. Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the University of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna Naturhi ...

and

Christoph Gottfried Andreas Giebel Christoph Gottfried Andreas Giebel (13 September 1820 – 14 November 1881) was a German zoologist and palaeontologist. He was a professor of zoology at the University of Halle where he managed the zoology collections at the museum. His interests ...

, who used preoccupied names, in 1861 named a distinct genus: ''Scaphognathus'', derived from Greek ''skaphe'', "boat" or "tub", and ''gnathos'', "jaw", in reference to the blunt shape of the lower jaws. In the early twentieth century, the "rhamphorhynchoid" nature of ''S. crassirostris'' was recognized after the discovery of the second specimen in Mühlheim, whose long tail was preserved. The second ''Scaphognathus'' specimen was more complete than its predecessor, but only half the size (twenty inch wingspan) and with partially ossified bones. These characters indicate that the second specimen was a juvenile.

Description

The ''Scaphognathus'' is known from three specimens, all of which originated in the

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxford ...

-ageWeishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 545–549. . Solnhofen Limestone."Scaphognathus." In: Cranfield, Ingrid (ed.). ''The Illustrated Directory of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures''. London: Salamander Books, Ltd. Pp. 308–309. Physically it was very similar to ''Rhamphorhynchus'', albeit with notable cranial differences. For one, ''Scaphognathus'' had a proportionately shorter skull (4.5 in) with a blunter tip and a larger

antorbital fenestra An antorbital fenestra (plural: fenestrae) is an opening in the skull that is in front of the eye sockets. This skull character is largely associated with archosauriforms, first appearing during the Triassic Period. Among extant archosaurs, birds ...

. Its teeth oriented vertically rather than horizontally. The traditional count of them held that eighteen teeth were in the upper jaws and ten in the lower.

S. Christopher Bennett S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

, studying a new third specimen, SMNS 59395, in 2004 determined there were only sixteen teeth in the upper jaws, the higher previous number having been caused by incorrectly adding replacement teeth. Comparisons between the scleral rings of ''Scaphognathus'' and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been diurnal. This may also indicate

niche partitioning In ecology, niche differentiation (also known as niche segregation, niche separation and niche partitioning) refers to the process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexist. The competitive exclu ...

with contemporary pterosaurs inferred to be

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

, such as ''

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'', a ...

'' and ''

''.

Classification

The ''cladogram'' (family tree) of rhamphorhynchids below is the result of a large

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis published by Andres & Myers in 2013.

References

Literature

*Fantastic Facts About Dinosaurs ()

External links

The Pterosaur Database (pdf)
{{Portalbar, Paleontology, Germany Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe Rhamphorhynchids Taxa named by Johann Andreas Wagner Fossil taxa described in 1861