Ornithocheirus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ornithocheirus
Ornithocheirus mesembrinus (syn.Tropeognathus), a short-tailed pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil (Santana formation)

Ornithocheirus mesembrinus ( syn.Tropeognathus ), a short-tailed pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil ( Santana formation )

Temporal occurrence
Lower to Upper Cretaceous ( Barremium to Campanium )
130.7 to 72 million years
Locations
Systematics
Ornithodira
Flugsaurier (Pterosauria)
Short-tailed pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea)
Ornithocheiroidea
Ornithocheiridae
Ornithocheirus
Scientific name
Ornithocheirus
Seeley , 1869

Ornithocheirus (from the ancient Greek "ornis" and "cheiros" "bird's hand") is a genus of short-tailed pterosaurs.

The first fossils were found in the Wealden Formation in Sussex , England in 1827 . It mainly concerned jaw fragments, joint ends and individual vertebrae. Complete skeletons and skulls were missing.

From the collected amount of more than 1000 bones, 36 species were described based on pine fragments. For a long time, the taxon served as a collective genus for fragmentary bones that could only be assigned to the family Ornithocheiridae with certainty . Among them, however, were also fossils that are now assigned to other families, such as the Azhdarchid- related Lonchodectes and the pteranodontid ornithostoma, known only from jaw fragments . Two species are still valid today, O. mesembrinus and O. simus .

features

Life-size ornithocheirus model with 6 meters wingspan

The genus Ornithocheirus included medium-sized to large pterosaurs with long, slender skulls. The wingspan ranges from 2.5 to an estimated 8.5 meters.

Some species had a bony crest on their snout. The jaw edges were parallel, the jaw cross-section was triangular. Their teeth consisted of similar, short and strong teeth that reached from the tip of the snout to far back. The distance between the teeth was greater than the diameter of the teeth. Their surface was finely grooved lengthways, the cross section was round or oval. In the middle of the palate was a longitudinal keel which, when the mouth was closed, reached into a groove in the lower jaw that was delimited by two ridges. Ornithocheirus was one of the largest pterosaurs of its time.

Ornithocheirus was probably a fish eater that sailed the seas and had a way of life similar to that of today's albatross .

literature

  • David M. Unwin: The Pterosaurs. From deep time. PI Press, New York NY 2006, ISBN 0-13-146308-X .
  • Peter Wellnhofer : The illustrated encyclopedia of pterosaurs. Crescent Books, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-517-03701-7 .
  • Peter Wellnhofer: Pterosaurs. Pterosauria (= The new Brehm library. Vol. 534, ISSN  0138-1423 ). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg Lutherstadt 1980.

Web links

Commons : Ornithocheirus  - collection of images, videos and audio files