Pteranodontidae

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pteranodontids
Temporal range:
Ma
Mounted replicas of female and male
Geosternbergia sternbergi skeletons (Royal Ontario Museum
).
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Clade: Pteranodontoidea
Clade: Pteranodontia
Family: Pteranodontidae
Marsh, 1876
Type species
Pteranodon longiceps

Marsh, 1876
Genera

The Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America and Africa. The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a distinctive, elongated crest jutting from the rear of the head (most famously seen in Pteranodon itself). The spectacularly-crested Nyctosaurus is sometimes included in this family, though usually placed in its own family, the Nyctosauridae (Nicholson & Lydekker, 1889).

Modern researchers differ in their use of the concept. S. Christopher Bennett and

Geosternbergia. Kellner re-defined Pteranodontidae as the most recent common ancestor of Pteranodon longiceps, Geosternbergia sternbergi and Dawndraco kanzai, and all of its descendants. This definition is now contentious, however, as the validity of Dawndraco has been disputed and the utility[clarification needed] of separating Geosternbergia from Pteranodon questioned.[5] This clade possibly includes the nyctosaurids. Analyses by David Unwin did indicate a close relationship between Pteranodon and Nyctosaurus, and he used the name Pteranodontia
for the clade containing both.

Pteranodontids are primarily known from the Coniacian to Campanian stages of the Cretaceous in North America and Japan.[6] However, potential Maastrichtian remains have been identified from several other locations,[7][8] being actually rather common in the Maastrichtian of the Tethys Sea. Beginning in 2016, Nicholas Longrich, David Martill, and Brian Andres presented evidence of several nyctosaurid and pteranodontid species from the latest Maastrichtian age of north Africa, suggesting that both lineages went through an evolutionary radiation in the Tethys region shortly before the K–Pg extinction event.[9][10] Additionally, later phylogenetic studies imply that they represent a ghost lineage dating much earlier in the Cretaceous.[11] Volgadraco, previously assumed to be an azhdarchid, has also since been relocated to pteranodontidae.[3]

References

  1. ^ Averianov AO, Kurin AS (2022). "A new specimen of pteranodontid pterosaur Bogolubovia orientalis from the Upper Cretaceous of Penza Province, Russia". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2087522.
  2. ^ Andres, Brian (2021-12-14). "Phylogenetic systematics of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (sup1): 203–217. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1801703. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 245078533.
  3. ^
    S2CID 229441587
    .
  4. ^ Bennett, S. C. (1994). "Taxonomy and systematics of the Late Cretaceous pterosaur Pteranodon (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea)", Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 169: 1-70
  5. ISSN 2292-1389
    .
  6. ^ Alexander W.A. Kellner, Fabiana R. Costab, Xiaolin Wang & Xin Cheng, Redescription of the first pterosaur remains from Japan: the largest flying reptile from Asia, Volume 28, Issue 1-2, 2016 Special Issue: Contributions to vertebrate palaeontology in honour of Yukimitsu Tomida, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2015.1028929
  7. ^ Barrett, P. M., Butler, R. J., Edwards, N. P., & Milner, A. R. (2008). Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. Zitteliana: 61-107.[1]
  8. S2CID 56002643
    .
  9. .
  10. ^ Witton, Mark. "New paper: when the short-necked, giant azhdarchid pterosaur Hatzegopteryx ruled Late Cretaceous Romania" Mark Witton.com Blog. Mark Witton.com Blog. Patreon Supporters, 18 Jan. 2017. Web.
  11. S2CID 84617119
    .