Ctenochasma elegans
| Ctenochasma elegans | ||||||||||||
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_elegans.jpg)
Ctenochasma elegans - juvenile specimen |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Tithonium ( Upper Jurassic ) | ||||||||||||
| 152.1 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ctenochasma elegans | ||||||||||||
| ( Wagner , 1861) | ||||||||||||
Ctenochasma elegans is a kind of the extinct pterodactyloidea (Pterodactyloidea) and is from the genus Ctenochasma . The species occurred in the Upper Jurassic (150.8 to 145.5 mya ).
features
The skull has an elongated beak with thin teeth and a large number of lateral, very narrow teeth. Young animals have a reduced set of teeth compared to adult animals. During embryogenesis , the teeth protrude from front to back. The number of teeth increases progressively from 60 to over 400 as the child grows up. The teeth form a basket that was used to catch prey. The rear teeth ( maxilla ) extend up to the level of the fenestra antorbitalis , the lower jaw teeth extend up to the level of the symphysis . The endo- cranial cavity of the skull indicates a remarkably large brain in relation to the size of the skull. The neck is moderately long. The wing phalanx 1 is long, the femur short.
The information on body size varies. With a wingspan of 25 cm, Ctenochasma elegans was the smallest species of the genus. With the inclusion of Ctenochasma gracile as a synonym, the species reaches larger dimensions. The length of the skull of the fossils thus varies between 3.3 and 30 cm, the wingspan can reach 1.2 m.
Way of life
The structure of the scleral rings suggests a nocturnal lifestyle. The dentition suggests that Ctenochasma elegans searched the bank area of waters for aquatic organisms such as crustaceans, which emerged from deeper water layers at night following the phytoplankton, and fed on them. This feeding behavior of Ctenochasma species is often compared with that of flamingos , which are also plankton filter feeders.
Locations
The terra typica of the type specimen ( holotype : BSPG 1875.XIV.501, Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology, Munich; juvenile specimen) is the Solnhofen limestone ( Eichstätt , Bavaria ). Further specimens were found in the region (e.g. Painten formation : Zandt subformation; Altmühltal formation : Eichstätt subformation), whereby insights into the growth and development of these pterosaurs were gained using animals of different sizes.
Systematics
The taxon was established in 1861 by Johann Andreas Wagner under the name Pterodactylus elegans .
- First description : Wagner, A. 1861. Characteristics of a new flying lizard, Pterodactylus elegans . Meeting reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Mathematics and Natural Sciences Department 1: 363–365.
Other synonyms are Ctenochasma gracile Oppel 1862 and Pterodactylus pulchellus Meyer 1859.
The specimens described under the names Pterodactylus elegans , Ctenochasma gracile and Ctenochasma porocristata are probably different individuals of Ctenochasma elegans in different stages of growth. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that independent studies using different methods arrive at this conclusion.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Fossilworks - Gateway to the Paleobiology Database: Ctenochasma elegans (accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ↑ a b c Jouve: Description of the skull of a Ctenochasma Pterosauria from the Latest Jurassic of Eastern France with taxonomic revision of European Tithonian Pterodactyloidea in: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (3): 542–554, September 2004 ( PDF )
- ↑ pteros.com: Ctenochasma (accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ↑ Palaeocritti - a guide to prehistoric animals: Ctenochasma elegans ( Link , accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ↑ Prehistoric Wildlife: Ctenochasma (accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ↑ a b Solnhofen Fossil Atlas : Ctenochasma elegans (accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ^ Benton et al .: Cowen's History of Life , 6th Edition, Wiley.
- ↑ Solnhofen Fossil Atlas : Ctenochasma gracile (accessed on: March 15, 2020)
- ↑ Bennet: A review of the pterosaur Ctenochasma: taxonomy and ontogeny in: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen , Volume 245, Number 1, July 2007, pp. 23-31 (9).