A survey of pterosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of the former soviet union and Mongolia

A reassessment of the systematic relationships of pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China, shows that Dendrorhynchoides should be reassigned to the Anurognathidae ("Rhamphorhynchoidea") and that Eosipterus possibly belongs within Ctenochasmatidae (Pterodactyloidea). These pterosaurs formed an integral part of a diverse community that inhabited lowland terrestrial environments in the region of northeast China in the Early Cretaceous. A new compilation of data for the Lower Cretaceous hints at a broad differentiation between pterosaurs that lived in continental habitats (anurognathids, ctenochasmatoids, dsungaripteroids) and those that frequented marine environments (ornithocheiroids). Moreover, there is evidence of further differentiation within continental habitats, between pterosaurs living in lowland and coastal regions (anurognathids, ctenochasmatoids) and those living in more inland environments (dsungaripteroids). The temporal and geographical range extensions for high rank taxa that are implied by the Yixian pterosaurs further emphasise the incompleteness and unevenness of the pterosaur fossil record and its unreliability for biostratigraphic zonation.Key words: Pterosaur, Lower Cretaceous, Jehol Group, China, Anurognathidae, Ctenochasmatidae. ZusammenfassungEine Neubewertung der systematischen Stellung der Flugsaurier von der unterkretazischen Yixian-Formation der Provinz Liaoning, China, zeigt, dass Dendrorhynchoides den Anurognathiden (,,Rhamphorhynchoidea") zugeordnet werden kann und dass Eosipterus vermutlich zu den Ctenochasmatiden (Pterodactyloidea) gehort. Diese beiden Flugsaurier bilden einen integralen Bestandteil einer diversen Fauna, die in der Unteren Kreide ein terrestrisches Flachland-Okosystem im Nordosten Chinas bewohnte. Fasst man die fur die Untere Kreide verfiigbaren Daten zusammen, so zeigt sich eine weitgehende Differenzierung zwischen Flugsauriern, die uberwiegend in kontinentalen Okosystemen lebten (Anurognathidae, Ctenochasmatoidea, Dsungaripteroidea) und jenen, die auch oft in marinen Bereichen auftreten (Ornithocheiroidea). Dariiber hinaus gibt es auch Hinweise auf eine Differenzierung innerhalb der kontinentalen Habitate, zwischen Pterosauriern, die sich in den Ebenen und kiistennahen Bereichen aufhielten (Anurognathidae, Ctenochasmatoidea) und den Bewohnern von mehr kiistenfernen Okosystemen (Dsungaripteroidea). Die von den Taxa der Yixian-Formation angezeigte Erweiterung der stratigraphischen und geographischen Reichweite fur Taxa hoheren Ranges unterstreichen die Unvollstandigkeit und Unausgewogenheit des Fossilberichtes der Flugsaurier und seine Unzulanglichkeit fur biostratigraphische Zonierungen.

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“…records from continental sediments are rare and generally fragmentary (Wellnhofer 1991a. Bell & Padian 1995. Bakhurina & Unwin 1996.…”

Section: Palaeoecology Of Lower Cretaceous Pterosaursmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the systematic and stratigraphic significance of pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (Jehol Group) of Liaoning, China

Unwin

Lü²,

Bakhurina

2008

Fossil Record

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“…Pteranodontids are otherwise only certainly known from the Coniacian-Campanian interval (Bennett 1984(Bennett , 2001, thus the Cambridge Greensand record represents a considerable range extension. This discovery, which is also supported by the tentative identification of a pteranodontid jaw fragment from the Cenomanian of Morocco (Wellnhofer & Buffetaut 1999), is not unexpected because, if the Ornithocheiridae is the closest known sister group to Pteranotlon (Bennett 1989, 1994, Unwin 1995, Unwin et al 2000) the existence of this clade in the Early Cretaceous (Fig. 14) implies that the lineage leading to the Pteranodontidae must also have existed by this time, or possibly even earlier.…”

Section: General Significance Of the Cambridge Greensand Pterosaursmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…By contrast, the Late Cretaceous pterosaur fossil record is more poorly known: there are no major assemblages such as those found in the Cambridge Greensand and Santana Formation and, apart from a few records such as that of Azhdarcho from the Beleuta Svita of Uzbekistan (Nesov 1984, Bakhurina & Unwin 1995, little is known about late Cenomanian-Santonian pterosaurs (Fig. 14).…”

Section: General Significance Of the Cambridge Greensand Pterosaursmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England

Unwin

2001

Foss. Rec.

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The Cambridge Greensand, a remaniC deposit that crops out in Cambridgeshire. eastern England, has yielded numerous. though fragmentary, late Early Cretaceous (Albian) vertebrate fossils including more than 2000 isolated pterosaur bones. S o far. 32 species of pterosaur have been proposed in connection with the Cambridge Greensand material. but there has been and continues to be considerable confusion concerning the validity of these taxa, their relationships to each other and t o other pterosaurs, and the material upon which they were established. A comprehensive systematic revision identified eleven valid species distributed among three families: the Ornithocheiridae (Ornithoeheirus sirnus and possibly a second. as vet unnamed species of Ornithoeheirus. Coloborhynchus

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“…The jaw described here lacks any diagnostic features of Ornithocheiroidea, Ctenochasmatoidea, or Azhdarchoidea (see Unwin 1995 andUnwin &Lü 1997 for apomorphies of these taxa) but exhibits three characters only found in dsungaripteroids. These are as follows :…”

Section: Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

On a pterosaur jaw from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania)

Unwin

Heinrich

1999

Foss. Rec.

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A short section of a mandibular symphysis is the first cranial fossil of a pterosaur to be reported from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru, Tanzania . It is made the holotype of a new dsungaripteroid pterosaur, Tendaguripterus recki n . gen . n . sp . Al l previously named pterosaur taxa from Tendaguru are shown to be nomina dubia . The pterosaur assemblage from Tendaguru contains a`rhamphorhynchoid', as well as the dsungaripteroid, and is similar in its systematic composition to other Late Jurassic pterosaur assemblages from Laurasia. The diversity and broad distribution of dsungaripteroids in the Late Jurassic suggests that the group was already well established by this time .Key words: Tendaguru, Tanzania, Upper Jurassic, pterosaur, Pterodactyloidea, Dsungaripteroidea . ZusammenfassungDer erste Schädelrest eines Flugsauriers aus dem Oberjura von Tendaguru in Tansania wird beschrieben . Bei dem Fundstück handelt es sich um ein bezahntes Unterkieferbruchstück aus der Symphysenregion . Der Fund gehört zu einem neuen Taxon, das als Tendaguripterus recki n . gen . n . sp. bezeichnet und zur Überfamilie Dsungaripteroidea gestellt wird . Alle zuvor aus den Tendaguru-Schichten beschriebenen Taxa werden als nomina dubia angesehen. In Tendaguru sind Verteter der ,Rhamphorhynchoidea`und Dsungaripteroidea nachgewiesen . Diese systematische Zusammensetzung ist derjenigen anderer Flugsaurier-Vergesellschaftungen der späten Jura-Zeit ähnlich . Die Vielfalt und die weite Verbreitung der Dsungaripteroidea in Laurasia läßt darauf schließen, daß sich diese Flugsauriergruppe bereits in der späten Jura-Zeit erfolgreich durchgesetzt hatte.

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A survey of pterosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of the former soviet union and Mongolia

Cited by 111 publications

References 33 publications

On the systematic and stratigraphic significance of pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (Jehol Group) of Liaoning, China

On the systematic and stratigraphic significance of pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (Jehol Group) of Liaoning, China

An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England

On a pterosaur jaw from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania)

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