Dsungaripteridae

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Dsungaripterids
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous Possible Late Jurassic record,[1] possible Late Cretaceous record[2]
Restored skeleton of
Dsungaripterus weii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Clade: Ornithocheiroidea
Family: Dsungaripteridae
Young, 1964
Type species
Dsungaripterus weii

Young, 1964
Genera

Dsungaripteridae is a group of

pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.[5] They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings.[6]

Classification

In 1964 Young created a

Phobetor
" which was already occupied, therefore the quotation marks) were assigned to the family.

In 2003,

synapomorphies he gave the next six characteristics: a relatively small eye-socket, which is placed high up the skull; an opening below the eye-socket; a high ridge across the snout, which starts in front of the nasal opening and ends behind the eye-sockets; the maxilla reaches out down- and backwards; the absence of teeth in the first part of the jaws; the teeth in the back of the upper jaw are the biggest; the teeth have a wide oval basis. Kellner pointed out all members of the group, except for Dsungaripterus itself, were known from fragmentary remains, so only the last characteristic could be established for sure in all members.[7]

Also Domeykodactylus and Lonchognathosaurus were assigned to the group. They are medium-sized forms, adapted to eating hard-shelled creatures, which they grind with their flat teeth.

In the same year, David Unwin gave a slightly different definition: the last

common ancestor of Dsungaripterus weii and Noripterus complicidens, and all its descendants.[8]

The known Dsungaripteridae range from the Late Jurassic to the Cretaceous (Hauterivian). The group belongs to the Dsungaripteroidea sensu Unwin and is presumably relatively closely related to the Azhdarchoidea. According to Unwin, Germanodactylus is the sister taxon to the group, but his analyses have this outcome as the only ones. According to an analysis by Brian Andres from 2008, the Dsungaripteridae are closely related to the Tapejaridae, what would actually make them members of the Azhdarchoidea.[9]

The earliest known fossils attributed to this group are from the Early Cretaceous of Chile, belonging to the species

China, about 112 million years ago.[11]

Recent examinations of Dsungaripterus' palate support an azhdarchoid interpretation.[12]

Family tree

Below is a

Noripterinae (which consists only of Noripterus species). Their cladogram is shown below.[13]

Dsungaripteromorpha
Dsungaripteridae
Dsungaripterinae

Dsungaripterus weii

Domeykodactylus ceciliae

Noripterinae

Noripterus parvus

Noripterus complicidens

Thalassodrominae

Thalassodromeus sethi

Tupuxuara longicristatus

Tupuxuara leonardii

In 2019, a different topology, this time by Kellner and colleagues, was published. In this study, Dsungaripteridae was recovered outside the Azhdarchoidea, within the larger group Tapejaroidea. The cladogram of the analysis is shown below.[14]

Tapejaroidea
Dsungaripteridae

Dsungaripterus weii

Noripterus parvus

Azhdarchoidea

Azhdarchidae

Chaoyangopteridae

Tapejaromorpha

Keresdrakon vilsoni

Tapejaridae

Thalassodrominae

Tapejarinae

References

  1. ^ Unwin, David M.; Heinrich, Wolf-Dieter (1999). "On a pterosaur jaw from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania)". Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe. 2: 121–134.
  2. S2CID 249989122
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  4. ^ Bonaparte, J.F., and Sanchez, T.M. (1975). Restos de un pterosaurio Puntanipterus globosus de la formación La Cruz provincia San Luis, Argentina. Actas Primo Congresso Argentino de Paleontologia e Biostratigraphica 2:105-113. [Spanish]
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  7. ^ a b Kellner, A.W.A., 2003. Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the AN group. In: Buffetaut, E., Mazin, J.M. (Eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 217, 105–137.
  8. ^ 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.
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  10. ^ D. M. Martill, E. Frey, G. C. Diaz and C. M. Bell. 2000. Reinterpretation of a Chilean pterosaur and the occurrence of Dsungaripteridae in South America. Geological Magazine 137(1):19-25.
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