History
In 1969, Argentine paleobotanist Rafael Herbst dug up a piece of sandstone Neuquén Province at Picun Leufú, containing a number of disarticulated bones of a small reptile. At the time it was assumed the rock dated to the Middle Jurassic (Callovian), about 163 million years ago. [1]
In 1975, paleontologist Rodolfo Magín Casamiquela named the find as a new genus and species, Herbstosaurus pigmaeus. The genus name honours Herbst and connects his name to Greek sauros, "lizard", a usual element in the name of dinosaurs. The specific name is derived from Greek pygmaios, "dwarf", as it was thought the form represented a small Compsognathus -like coelurosaurian theropod belonging to the Coeluridae and one of the smallest dinosaurs then known. [1]
The holotype is CTES-PZ-1711, consisting of a sacrum, pelvic elements, and both femora. The dispersed bones are compressed, crushed by the weight of the layers above. Casamiquela had already indicated that the new species was very distinct because of an atypically long ilium and short ischium. In 1978, while reviewing the relations of Compsognathus, John Ostrom concluded that these qualities were best explained if Herbstosaurus was not a dinosaur but a pterosaur, for which such proportions are typical. The new identification allowed some fragmentary pterosaur material found in the same layers to be referred to Herbstosaurus, including a wing bone. [1]
Classification
The phylogenetic position of Herbstosaurus has proven difficult to determine. In 1981, Peter Galton stated it was a member of the Pterodactyloidea. In his 1988 general textbook on vertebrate paleontology, Robert Carroll narrowed that down to the Pterodactylidae. However, in 1991, Peter Wellnhofer suggested it was not a pterodactyloid but a more basal pterosaur, because of the form of the pelvis. In 1996, David Unwin concluded Herbstosaurus was a basal member of the Dsungaripteroidea. This was again doubted by Laura Codorniú and Zulma Gasparini in 2007.
In 2025, Ezcurra et al. reanalysed the Herbstosaurus holotype. While the specimen is fragmentary, they were able to score it in a phylogenetic dataset to test its relationships and affinities with other pterosaurs. Based on the anatomy of its femur, they recovered Herbstosaurus as a member of the Dsungaripteroidea, deeply nested within Pterodactyloidea. Their results are displayed in the cladogram below: [1]
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