Germanodactylus

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Germanodactylus
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Fossil specimen of G. cristatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Family: †Germanodactylidae
Genus: †Germanodactylus
Yang, 1964
Type species
†Pterodactylus cristatus
Wiman, 1925
Species
Synonyms

Germanodactylus ("German finger") is a

Upper Jurassic-age rocks of Germany, including the Solnhofen Limestone. Its specimens were long thought to pertain to Pterodactylus
. The head crest of Germanodactylus is a distinctive feature.

History

Counter-slab of a fossilized specimen

G. cristatus is

Daitingopterus". David M. Unwin has also referred miscellaneous limb bones and vertebrae from the somewhat older Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset, England to the genus; these finds at the time marked the earliest appearance of short-tailed pterosaurs in the fossil record.[6]
Bennett suggested in 1996 that Germanodactylus represented adults of Pterodactylus,[7] but this has been rejected by further studies,[8][9][10][11] including his own.[12][13] Bennett's 2006 reappraisal of Germanodactylus found both species to be valid and included within the genus, with G. cristatus known from four specimens, including two juveniles, and G. rhamphastinus from two specimens. The genus differs from other pterosaurs by a combination of characteristics including a sharply pointed jaw tip, four to five premaxillary teeth, and eight to twelve maxillary teeth per side of the upper jaw, robust maxillary teeth that, unlike in Pterodactylus, are not reduced in size farther from the tip of the jaw, a naso-antorbital fenestra twice the length of the eye socket, and various proportional differences. G. cristatus differs from "G. rhampastinus" by having no teeth in the tip of the jaw and fewer teeth (~13 in each side of the upper jaw and ~12 in the lower versus 16 upper and 15 lower on each side for "G. rhamphastinus").[13]

Description

Germanodactylus is described as being "raven-sized" in weight.[8] G. cristatus had a 0.98 meter wingspan (3.2 ft) and a 13 centimeter (5.1 in) long skull, while "G. rhamphastinus" was somewhat larger, with a 1.08 meter (3.5 ft) wingspan, and a skull measuring 21 centimeters (8.3 in) long.[14]

Head crest

Germanodactylus is known for its head crest, which had a bony portion (a low ridge running up the midline of the skull) and a soft-tissue portion that more than doubled its height. The bony part does not go as far up the head in G. cristatus as in G. rhamphastinus. The soft-tissue portion was not known early on, being first described in 2002 by

Tapejara. Darwinopterus and Cuspicephalus also possess headcrests made of "fibrous" bone, demonstrating that the character is a homology,[15] and not a homoplasy
.

Classification

This genus is unspecialized compared to the pterosaurs of the

Aurorazhdarchia. Vidovic and Martill did not initially propose a new name for "G. rhamphastinus", but they suggested that it might represent an adult Diopecephalus, if that genus proves to be valid.[19] However, in a subsequent paper published in 2017, Vidovic and Martill created a new genus for "G. rhamphastinus", Altmuehlopterus.[20]

Below is a

phylogenetic analysis presented by Longrich, Martill, and Andres in 2018. In this analysis, they placed the species G. cristatus as the sister taxon of "G. rhamphastinus" within the family Germanodactylidae, and contrary to the concepts mentioned above, both of these species were recovered as closer relatives of more primitive pterosaurs, such as Pterodactylus, within the group Archaeopterodactyloidea.[21]

Archaeopterodactyloidea
Germanodactylidae

Germanodactylus cristatus

Germanodactylus rhamphastinus

Euctenochasmatia

Pterodactylus antiquus

Ctenochasmatoidea
Gallodactylidae

Cycnorhamphus suevicus

Normannognathus wellnhoferi

Ctenochasmatidae

See also

References

  1. ^ Plieninger, F. (1901). "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flugsaurier". Palaeontographica. 48: 65–90.
  2. ^ Wiman, Carl (1925). "Über Pterodactylus Westmanni und andere Flugsaurier". Bulletin of the Geological Institution of the University of Uppsala. 20: 1–38.
  3. ^ a b Zhongjian, Yang (1964). "On a new pterosaurian from Sinkiang, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 8: 221–255.
  4. ^ Wagner, Johann Andreas (1851). "Beschreibung einer neuen Art von Ornithocephalus, nebst kritischer Vergleichung der in der k. palaeontologischen Sammlung zu München aufgestellten Arten aus dieser Gattung". Abhandlungen der königlichen bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German). 6: 1–64.
  5. ^ Wellnhofer, Peter (1970). "Die Pterodactyloidea (Pterosauria) der Oberjura-Plattenkalke Süddeutschlands". Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 141: 1–133.
  6. ^ Unwin, David M. (1988). "A new pterosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay of Kimmeridge, Dorset". Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History Museum and Archaeological Society. 109: 150–153.
  7. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011332
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-13-146308-X
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 1-86239-143-2
    .
  10. ^ a b c Unwin, David M. (2003) "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs", in Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs, 139–190.
  11. S2CID 86019483
    .
  12. ^
    S2CID 86308635
    .
  13. ^
    S2CID 86460861
    .
  14. ISBN 0-7607-0154-7
    .
  15. ^ Vidovic, Steven (October 29, 2014). "The pterodactyl tree".
  16. ^ Unwin, David M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time, 273.
  17. ^ Unwin, David M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time, 84–85.
  18. S2CID 128695473
    .
  19. PMID 25337830
    .
  20. S2CID 219204038
    .
  21. ^ Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018). Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. PLoS Biology, 16(3): e2001663.
    doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663

External links
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