CurryWurst Prize - shock development

[Unwin <h0662eka@rz.hu-berlin.de>]

CurryWurst Prize

In a shock development on August 13 Chris Bennett appears to have 
seriously undermined his chances of winning the prestigious and much 
sought after CurryWurst prize (sponsored by C.M.O.T. Dibbler) after 
writing:
 
> but of course nyctosaurs are not at all closely related to the clade
>(Istiodactylus (Ornithocheiridae + Pteranodontidae)) despite what Dave
>thinks.

Naturally, there are some differences of opinion regarding the 
relationships of the membraneless crested, derived ornithocheiroid 
Nyctosaurus, a sister taxon to Pteranodontidae. The 'Ornithocheiroidea' 
(essentially Ornithocheiridae, Pteranodontidae and Istiodactylus, and 
according to so(me), Nyctosaurus) is supported by many synapomorphies and 
has been identified by most if not quite all current students of 
pterosaurs although, as you might expect, we use different names for what 
is essentially the same clade (I prefer Ornithocheiroidea because it is 
the oldest available name for a group that retains at least one key 
relationship present in the current concept: the linking of Pteranodon 
and Ornithocheirus). Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that 
Nyctosaurus exhibits many (but by no means all) of the ornithocheiroid 
synapomorphies, so I am confident that it is part of the 
Ornithocheiroidea. According to the results of my latest study (Unwin 
2003) it forms a sister group to Pteranodontidae, so those 
non-ornithocheiroid character states in Nyctosaurus represent reversals 
rather than retention of the plesiomorphic state if Nyctosaurus is a 
basal ornithocheiroid or lies outside Ornithocheiroidea. There is more on 
this in Unwin 2003 - due out shortly - and the full description of 
Nyctosaurus should be even more insightful. 


>by which Dave really means a pteranodontoid!

Don't you like CurryWurst then Chris...?


Steamboat Dave


Yet more shameless self promotion:

Unwin, D. M. 2003. On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of 
pterosaurs. In: Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M. (eds), Evolution and 
Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society, London, Special 
Publications 217 (in press).



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David M. Unwin PhD

Institut fur Palaontologie, MUSEUM FUR NATURKUNDE 
Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, GERMANY

Email: david.unwin@rz.hu-berlin.de

Telephone numbers:
0049 30 2093 8577 (office)
0049 30 2093 8862 (department secretary)
0049 30 2093 8868 (fax)
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