Isolated teeth of Anhangueria  (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

The fossil record of Australian pterosaurs is sparse, consisting of only a small number of isolated and fragmentary remains from the Cretaceous of Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Here, we describe two isolated pterosaur teeth from the Lower Cretaceous (middle Albian) Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge (New South Wales) and identify them as indeterminate members of the pterodactyloid clade Anhangueria. This represents the first formal description of pterosaur material from New South Wales. The presence of one or more anhanguerian pterosaurs at Lightning Ridge correlates with the presence of ‘ornithocheirid’ and Anhanguera-like pterosaurs from the contemporaneous Toolebuc Formation of central Queensland and the global distribution attained by ornithocheiroids during the Early Cretaceous. The morphology of the teeth and their presence in the estuarine- and lacustrine-influenced Griman Creek Formation is likely indicative of similar life habits of the tooth bearer to other members of Anhangueria.

Isisfordia molnarisp. nov., a new basal eusuchian from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia

“…The Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge was previously considered Albian in age (e.g., Dettman et al, 1992; Smith, 1999; Smith & Kear, 2013), but recent radiometric dating indicates a Cenomanian (96.6–100.2 Ma; Bell et al, 2019) age, slightly younger than the lower Winton Formation at Isisford (see Tucker et al, 2013). The Griman Creek Formation has produced a diverse assemblage of vertebrate fossils (see Bell et al, 2019 for a comprehensive overview) apart from crocodyliforms, including aspidorhynchids (Bell et al, 2019), lamniforms (Bell et al, 2019), dipnoans (Kemp, 1997a; Kemp, 1997b), meiolaniform and chelid testudines (Smith, 2009; Smith, 2010; Smith & Kear, 2013), leptocleidid plesiosaurs (Kear, 2006), anhanguerian pterosaurs (Brougham, Smith & Bell, 2017), ankylosaurians (Bell, Burns & Smith, 2017), small and large bodied ornithopods (Molnar & Galton, 1986; Molnar, 1996; Bell et al, 2018), titanosauriform sauropods (Molnar & Salisbury, 2005), megaraptorid theropods (Bell et al, 2015; Brougham, Smith & Bell, 2019), enantiornithes (Bell et al, 2019) and australosphenid mammals (Archer et al, 1985; Flannery et al, 1995; Clemens, Wilson & Molnar, 2003; Pian et al, 2016; T. Rich in Poropat et al, 2018).…”

“…nov., marked with a square), Griman Creek Formation, Cenomanian. Modified from Brougham, Smith & Bell (2017, fig. 1).…”

New theropod (Tetanurae: Avetheropoda) material from the ‘mid’-Cretaceous Griman Greek Formation at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia

“…The Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge preserves a rich array of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, including crocodylomorphs [23,28,29], australosphenidian mammals [30–32], ornithischian dinosaurs [33–35], titanosauriform sauropods [36], megaraptoran theropods [18,37], enantiornithine birds [38], pterosaurs [39], plesiosaurs [40], turtles [41,42], dipnoan lungfish [43–45], a possible synapsid [24] and numerous species of non-marine macro-invertebrates [22,46–48]. For a review of the vertebrate fauna of the Griman Creek Formation, see Bell et al .…”

Ferrodraco lentoni gen. et sp. nov., a new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Winton Formation (Cenomanian–lower Turonian) of Queensland, Australia

“…Despite this, pterosaur remains are typically incomplete and fragmentary, primarily because their bones have thin cortices and are typically hollow 2 . Pterosaurs are rare in Australia, with their fossil record restricted to the Cretaceous and comprising isolated and fragmentary bones from Queensland 3–9 , New South Wales 10 , Western Australia 11,12 and Victoria 13,14 . The Victorian pterosaur fossils remain undescribed 14 , whereas those from New South Wales can be identified no more precisely than Anhangueria indet 10 .…”

“…Pterosaurs are rare in Australia, with their fossil record restricted to the Cretaceous and comprising isolated and fragmentary bones from Queensland 3–9 , New South Wales 10 , Western Australia 11,12 and Victoria 13,14 . The Victorian pterosaur fossils remain undescribed 14 , whereas those from New South Wales can be identified no more precisely than Anhangueria indet 10 . By contrast, the few pterosaur fossils from Western Australia evidently represent an anhanguerian 12 and an azhdarchid 11,15 .…”