Elopteryx

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Elopteryx
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
The holotype femur fragment and referred tibiotarsus fragment in several views
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Maniraptora
Genus: †Elopteryx
Andrews, 1913
Type species
†Elopteryx nopcsai
Andrews, 1913

Elopteryx is a

Period rocks of Romania. The single species, Elopteryx nopcsai, is known only from very incomplete material, and therefore is considered a nomen dubium
("dubious name") by most paleontologists.

History of discovery and naming

Initial finds

In the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, the famous

pelecaniform seabird.[1][2]

In 1929 the Hungarian paleontologist Kálmán Lambrecht referred two more specimens: BMNH A PAL.1528 and BMNH A PAL.1588, respectively a left and a right tibiotarsus.[3] In 1933 Lambrecht named a separate family Elopterygidae.[4] The supposed family Elopterygidae was initially placed in the

pseudotooth bird Dasornis which was almost certainly not very closely related to the Sulae.[6] Reconstruction attempts of E. nopcsai like this are based on this presumed affiliation with gannets and cormorants
. But more recent studies would result in radically different interpretations.

Later finds

Historical and outdated illustration of Elopteryx on a 2005 Romanian stamp

In 1975, the distal tibiotarsi BMNH A1588 and BMNH A1528, together with BMNH A4359, were by

Bradycnemidae.[1] In 1978 Brodkorb had changed his opinion after the supposed Elopteryx material was divided among three species in total, and was actually the first scholar in modern times to suggest that these Mesozoic bones were not of birds but of non-avian dinosaurs.[7]

In 1981,

metatarsal.[9]

In 1992, it was proposed by

Variraptor mechinorum.[11] The French femur is similar in general appearance to the Elopteryx type but it differs in diagnostic traits, e.g. lacking a fourth trochanter. Also, neither the ribs nor the tibiotarsi can be compared to the type
specimen of Elopteryx, there being no overlapping material.

In 2005, by Kessler yet another (distal) femur piece, FGGUB R.1957, has been placed with Elopteryx on the basis of the bone texture.[9]

Phylogeny

Modern interpretations have differed on the question whether the

troodontid, while Bradycneme would be a maniraptor, and Heptasteornis (at least its holotype BMNH A4359) a member of the Alvarezsauridae.[16] Thus E. nopcsai seems to be some sort of birdlike eumaniraptoran, but not related to modern birds. In 2005 Kessler however, reunited all the material in Elopteryx but considered it an alvarezsaurid.[9] Later, in 2019, two studies have found it to be a bird once again, but a basal one; Hartman et al. recover it as a confuciusornithiform[17] while Mayr et al. note similarities with Gargantuavis and Balaur, suggesting they form a clade native to the Late Cretaceous European archipelago.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Harrison & Walker (1975)
  2. ^ Andrews (1913)
  3. ^ Lambrecht, K., 1929, "Mesozoische und tertiäre Vogelreste aus Siebenbürgen" Comptes-Rendus Xe Congres International de Zoologie, Budapest, section 8, 1262-1275
  4. ^ Lambrecht, K., 1933, Handbuch der Palaeornithologie. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin
  5. ^ Brodkorb (1963): pp.248-249
  6. ^ Mayr (2008)
  7. ^ Brodkorb (1978): pp.223-224
  8. ^ Grigorescu, D. & Kessler, E., 1981, "A new specimen of Elopteryx nopcsai from the dinosaurian beds of Hateg Basin", Révue Roumaine de Géologie, Géophysique et Géographie, Géologie, 24: 171-175
  9. ^ a b c d Kessler, E., Grigorescu D. and Csiki, Z., 2005, "Elopteryx revisited - a new bird-like specimen from the Maastrichtian of the Hateg Basin", Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae. 5: 249-258
  10. ^ Le Loeuff et al. (1992)
  11. ^ Le Loeuff and Buffetaut (1998)
  12. ^ E.g. Le Loeuff et al. (1992), Csiki & Grigorescu (1998)
  13. ^ Paul (1988), Weishampel et al. (1991)
  14. ^ Csiki & Grigorescu (1998)
  15. ^ Most of these - like Confuciusornis or Enantiornithes - are only known since the late 20th century.
  16. ^ Naish & Dyke (2004)
  17. PMID 31333906
    .
  18. S2CID 210302354
    .

Bibliography
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