Sordes
| Sordes | ||||||||||||
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Sordes pilosus , living reconstruction |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Jurassic ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ) | ||||||||||||
| 157.3 to 145 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sordes | ||||||||||||
| Sharov , 1971 | ||||||||||||
Sordes ("devil", "evil spirit") is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs from the Upper Jurassic . The genus was established in 1971 by the Soviet paleontologist Alexander Grigorjewitsch Scharow (English transcription : Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov). Only the type S. pilosus ("hairy devil") has been scientifically described .
In the 1960s, Scharow was looking for fossil insects in layers of the Upper Jurassic in the mountains near Qaratau in Kazakhstan . He found the very well-preserved fossil of a pterosaur, in which impressions of the soft body, the flight membrane and hair-like structures were also preserved. The find supported the theory that pterosaurs were endothermic and wore an insulating coat. The coat of hair of Sordes covered the body, the flight membrane, the membrane between the hind legs and the toes. The body hair was the longest with hair lengths of six millimeters. A total of three specimens of Sordes have been found so far .
The wingspan of S. pilosus was 63 centimeters, the metacarpal bones were short, as in all Rhamphorhynchidae, the skull eight centimeters long. The teeth were well spaced in the jaw, short and upright. The fifth toe of the hind legs was particularly long and hook-shaped.
Sordes was likely to be an insect or fish eater. The skull and teeth are very similar to those of Scaphognathus from the Solnhofen limestone . A close relationship is therefore assumed.
literature
- Peter Wellnhofer : The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. Crescent Books, New York 1991, ISBN 0-517-03701-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pterosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide ( Memento November 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) by Ben Creisler. Status: July 7, 2003