Rhamphorhynchidae

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Rhamphorhynchids
Temporal range: Early-Late Jurassic, 182–148.5  Ma
Rhamphorhynchus phyllurus.jpg
Fossil specimen of Rhamphorhynchus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Clade: Novialoidea
Clade: Breviquartossa
Unwin, 2003
Family: Rhamphorhynchidae
Seeley, 1870
Type species
Pterodactylus longicaudus
Münster, 1839
Subgroups [1]
Synonyms
  • ScaphognathidaeHooley, 1913

Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after Rhamphorhynchus , that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley. [10] Members of the group possess no more than 11 pairs of teeth in the rostrum, a deltopectoral crest that is constricted at the base but expanded at the distal end, and a bent phalange on the fifth toe. [11] [12]

Rhamphorhynchidae traditionally contains two subfamilies: the Rhamphorhynchinae and the Scaphognathinae. While not recovered as distinct clades by all analyses, there do appear to be traits uniting members of each group. [1] [12] Rhamphorhynchines are more common, were lightly built, and had jaws ending in pointed tips that contained more teeth, which are often procumbent (pointed forward). Scaphognathines are comparatively quite rare, were more robust skeletally, and had shorter wing proportions. The broad-tipped skulls of scaphognathines held fewer teeth which were widely spaced and vertically oriented in the jaw. [12]

Classification

The cladogram (family tree) of rhamphorhynchids below is the result of a large phylogenetic analysis published by Andres & Myers in 2013. [1] Note that this study does not recover Scaphognathinae.

  Breviquartossa  

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhamphorhynchoidea</span>

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Parapsicephalus is a genus of long-tailed rhamphorhynchid pterosaurs from the Lower Jurassic Whitby, Yorkshire, England. It contains a single species, P. purdoni, named initially as a species of the related rhamphorhynchid Scaphognathus in 1888 but moved to its own genus in 1919 on account of a unique combination of characteristics. In particular, the top surface of the skull of Parapsicephalus is convex, which is otherwise only seen in dimorphodontians. This has been the basis of its referral to the Dimorphodontia by some researchers, but it is generally agreed upon that Parapsicephalus probably represents a rhamphorhynchid. Within the Rhamphorhynchidae, Parapsicephalus has been synonymized with the roughly contemporary Dorygnathus; this, however, is not likely given the many differences between the two taxa, including the aforementioned convex top surface of the skull. Parapsicephalus has been tentatively referred to the Rhamphorhynchinae subgrouping of rhamphorhynchids, but it may represent a basal member of the group instead.

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Orientognathus is a genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. It is known from a single specimen which includes most of the skeleton and skull, and was first named and described in 2015 by Lü Junchang et al.. The taxon was found in the Tuchengzi Formation of China, which is slightly younger than the Tiaojishan Formation that most other Middle Jurassic pterosaurs from the region have been found in. The description study produced a phylogenetic analysis, which determined that Orientognathus was a basal member of Rhamphorhynchidae, possibly within Rhamphorhynchinae.

References

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  3. Lü, J., Pu, H., Xu, L., Wei, X., ChanG, H., & Kundrát, M. (2015). "A new rhamphorhynchid pterosaur (Pterosauria) from Jurassic deposits of Liaoning Province, China." Zootaxa, 3911(1), 119-129.
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