Ctenochasmatidae

Ctenochasmatids Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous 152–105  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Ctenochasma elegans specimen from Solnhofen
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	† Pterosauria
Suborder:	† Pterodactyloidea
Clade:	† Ctenochasmatoidea
Family:	† Ctenochasmatidae Nopsca, 1928 [1]
Type species
† Ctenochasma roemeri Meyer, 1852
Subgroups
† Ardeadactylus ? † Aurorazhdarcho ? † Balaenognathus † Cathayopterus † Cratonopterus [2] † Elanodactylus † Forfexopterus † Gladocephaloideus † Kepodactylus † Liaodactylus † Otogopterus † Petrodactyle ? [3] † Pterofiltrus †Ctenochasmatinae † Ctenochasma †Pterodaustrini † Beipiaopterus † Eosipterus † Gegepterus † Pterodaustro †Gnathosaurinae † Garudapterus † Gnathosaurus † Huanhepterus ? † Lusognathus † Plataleorhynchus † Tacuadactylus †Moganopterinae † Feilongus † Moganopterus

Ctenochasmatid skulls demonstrating suspension feeding characteristics

Ctenochasmatidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They are characterized by their distinctive teeth, which are thought to have been used for filter-feeding. Ctenochasmatids lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous periods.

The earliest known ctenochasmatid remains date to the Late Jurassic Kimmeridgian age. Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae, ^[4] though further examination suggested it actually belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur. ^[5]

Classification

Below is cladogram following a topology recovered by Brian Andres, using the most recent iteration of his data set (Andres, 2021). Anders found that three subfamilies fall within the Ctenochasmatidae: Ctenochasmatinae, Gnathosaurinae and Moganopterinae, while also including several basal genera. ^[6]

Ctenochasmatidae	Ctenochasmatinae "Pterodactylus" micronyx Liaodactylus Ctenochasma Pterodaustrini Pterodaustro Beipiaopterus Gegepterus Kepodactylus Elanodactylus Moganopterinae Feilongus Moganopterus Ardeadactylus Gnathosaurinae Huanhepterus Plataleorhynchus Gnathosaurus

References

1. Nopcsa, F (1928). "The Genera of Reptiles" (PDF). Palaeobiologica. 1 (1): 163–188.
2. Jiang, Shunxing; Song, Junyi; Zhang, Xinjun; Cheng, Xin; Wang, Xiaolin (2023-11-15). "A new pterosaur from the early stage of the Jehol biota in China, with a study on the relative thickness of bone walls". Heliyon. 9 (12). E22370. Bibcode:2023Heliy...922370J. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22370 . PMC   10709016 . PMID   38076164.
3. Hone, David W.E.; Lauer, René; Lauer, Bruce; Spindler, Frederik (2023-07-14). "Petrodactyle wellnhoferi gen. et sp. nov.: A new and large ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic of Germany". Palaeontologia Electronica: 26.2.a25. doi: 10.26879/1251 .
4. Buffetaut, E. and Jeffrey, P. (2012). "A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." Geological Magazine, (advance online publication) doi : 10.1017/S0016756811001154
5. Andres, B.; Clark, J.; Xu, X. (2014). "The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group". Current Biology. 24 (9): 1011–6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.030 . PMID   24768054.
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