re: Pterosaurs, and more pterosaurs!

[David Peters <davidrpeters@earthlink.net>]

1) What sort of crest did _Pterodactylus_ have? Would it be the sort as
shown in Aspidel's Solnhofen drawing on the Dinosauricon here
http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=800, and would _P.kochi_ and
_P.
antiquus_ have the same sort of crest?

>>>>
Soft crests are not well preserved in the fossil record, and lots of
pterosaurs are called Pterodactylus that are really something else. Can
you give a museum number? Maybe I can help.


2) Are _P. kochi_ & _P. antiquus_ even that closely related anyway? I'd
always read somewhere (DP's Pterosaur Homepage IIRC) that kochi was
ancestral to ctenochasmatoids, and antiquus to azhdarchoids. And so does

_Pterodactylus_ belong to the ctenochasmatoids or in a clade of its own?



>>>>
P. kochi and P. antiquus are closely related and neither, it turns out
is related to ctenochasmatoids or azhdarchoids. Sorry for the earlier
misdirect. Science marches on.



3) Any crest known for _Nyctosaurus_? (besides the recent 'antler' one?)
I'd
always seen _Nyctosaurus_ reconstructions with a small stubby
_Pteranodon_-like crest; is this reflected in the fossil record?

>>>>>>
Some nyctos appear to have the shortest of what anyone would call a
crest. Smaller than in Dsungaripterus.


4) _Istiodactylus_: where the hell does it fit in pterosaur phylogeny?
Is
this the same as that new Isle of Wight pterosaur with a
_Brasileodactylus_-like crest as well as a snout crest reminiscent of
_Anhanguera_?

>>>>>>
Istiodactylus appears to belong with other ornithocheirids with small
pmx teeth and a large antorbital fenestra. The Isle of Wight pterosaur
(wonder what is real and what is not) appears to have very large teeth
and a smaller fenestra. I haven't seen Unwin or Kellner's take on it,
which is the latest published word.


5) Would _Germanodactylus_ & _Normannognathus_ be considered basal
dsungaripteroids?

>>>>>  Normannognathus has large teeth in the premaxilla while
Germanodactylus does not, so they are probably not closely related to
each other. Germanodactylus is closely related to Dsungaripterus.



And are cristatus & rhamphastinus considered closely
related enough to be placed in the same genus?

>>>> Probably not, but I haven't seen what Unwin and Kellner have to say
yet.



6) _Anhanguera piscator_ - Still valid? Or has it been synonymised with
_Coloborhynchus robustus_?

>>>>>> These two specimens are different enough not to be synonymized.


7) _Siroccopteryx moroccensis â?? Valid genus or sunk into
_Coloborhynchus_
as _C. moroccensis_? And did this critter look more like _Anhanguera_ or

_Coloborhynchus_?


>>>>>Sorry, haven't seen it yet.


8) _Cearadactylus_ - Ctenochasmatoid or Ornithocheiroid?

>>>>>>> Unwin says the former. My studies say the latter.

9) _Araripedactylus_, _Araripesaurus_, _Brasileodactylus_,
_Ludodactylus_,
_Arthurdactylus_ - all Ornithocheiroids I presume??

>>>>> Yes.

10) Tapejarids & Tupuxuarids â?? Azhdarchoids or Ornithocheiroids?

>>>> Must be a typo. Can't understand the question, but if you're asking
if Tapejara and Tupuxuara are Azhdarchoids or Ornithocheiroids, both Tj
and Tx have sharp-pointed rostra and dentaries, which are characters
unknown in either Azhdarchoids or Ornithocheiroids. Both Tj and Tx
appear to be derived from [Phobetor] Phobetoraptor, but again, check
Unwin and Kellner for the latest word.

David Peters
St. Louis