Ctenochasmatoidea

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Ctenochasmatoids
Temporal range:
Ma
Fossil specimen of
Ctenochasma elegans
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Clade: †Euctenochasmatia
Clade: †Ctenochasmatoidea
Unwin, 1995
Subgroups

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.[1]

Evolutionary history

The earliest known ctenochasmatoid remains date to the Late Jurassic

teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur.[3]

Ecology

Most ctenochasmatoids were aquatic or semi-aquatic pterosaurs, possessing large webbed hindfeet and long torsos - both adaptations for swimming and floating -, as well as a predominant occurrence in aquatic environments, the exception being the more slender-limbed and short-torsoed

filter-feeders like Pterodaustro and possible molluscivores like Cycnorhamphus. Most common, however, were straight-jawed, needle-toothed forms, some of the most notable being Ctenochasma and Gnathosaurus; these possibly occupied an ecological niche akin to that of modern spoonbills, their teeth forming spatula-like jaw profile extensions, allowing them a larger surface area to catch individual small prey.[4]

Flight

Most ctenochasmatoids have wing proportions akin to those of modern

skuas.[4]

Launching varied radically among ctenochasmatoids. In forms like Cycnorhamphus, long limbs and shorter torsos meant a level of relative ease. In forms like Pterodaustro, however, which possessed long torsos and short limbs, launching might have been a more taxing and prolonged affair, only possible in large open areas, just like modern heavy-bodied aquatic birds such as swans, even with the pterosaurian quadrupedal launching.[4]

Classification

Ctenochasmatoidea was first defined by David Unwin in 2003 as the clade containing

phylogenetic analysis presented by Steven Vidovic and David Martill, using the earliest available definitions for each clade name.[1]

ctenochasmatid Gladocephaloideus
Euctenochasmatia

Below is cladogram following a topology recovered by Brian Andres, using the most recent iteration of his data set (Andres, 2021). Andre's analysis found the "aurorazhdarchian" group recovered by the analysis of Vidovic and Martill to mostly be members of the Ctenochasmatidae, with only a small group of gallodactylids falling outside that group.[6]

Euctenochasmatia

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 219204038
    .
  2. doi:10.1017/S0016756811001154
  3. PMID 24768054
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 0691150613
    .
  5. ^ Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs." Pp. 139-190. in Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., (eds.) (2003). Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, London, 1-347.
  6. ^ Andres, B. (2021) Phylogenetic systematics of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 41:sup1, 203-217. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1801703 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2020.1801703
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