Re: Aetodactylus, the Dallas pterosaur

[David Peters <davidpeters@att.net>]

Jumping the gun, dude. Not a ctenochasmatid. Sorry. WFTP.

With regard to Zhenyuanopterus, Jaime, I think you have me mistaken for some 
other whipping boy.

here's what I said here on the DML:
http://dml.cmnh.org/2010Mar/msg00129.html

Nothing here on the Hone blog:
http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/is-it-safe-the-dentists-nightmare-meet-zhenyuanopterus/

David Peters




On Apr 29, 2010, at 5:15 AM, Jaime Headden wrote:

> 
> 
>  Forgive me if I am repeating something others know, but ornithocheiroids 
> described to date appear to have an mediolaterally expanded rostrum/mandible 
> tip.  This alone is irrelevant to the specimen's affinities, if this is one 
> of the two apparent criteria being used to imploy its affinities, I would 
> consider it fascile.  However, you mention also that the mandible is very 
> shallow, which would apply to this hinted-at, yet obvious Solnhofen "type" of 
> pterosaur (for the record, ctenochasmatids are apparently more widespread 
> than the Solnhofen Limestones of the Late Jurassic of Germany).  If this were 
> true, you might be on firmer ground, but my records indicate that 
> ctenochasmatid mandibles appear particularly deep, although not deeper than 
> most pterosaur mandibles, and also feature unique retroarticular morphology.
> 
> I would also overlook this casual hand wave to the ctenochasmatids, were it 
> not for an inferrence you made to Dave Hone on the apparent identity of the 
> ornithocheiroid *Zhengyuanopterus* where the presence of long, large and 
> numerous teeth were applied as ctenochasmatic features -- *Aetodactylus* has 
> well-spaced teeth with pedunculate sockets that differentiate it from most 
> other pterosaurs, yet links it with anhanguerine-line ornithocheiroids.  
> Therefore, it is the opposite of your inferrence.  Are you assessing ALL of 
> the information, or picking one bit here and there to play with?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jaime A. Headden
> The Bite Stuff (site v2)
> http://qilong.wordpress.com/
> 
> "Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)
> 
> 
> "Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
> different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
> has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
> his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
> Backs)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:42:46 -0500
>> From: davidpeters@att.net
>> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
>> Subject: Aetodactylus, the Dallas pterosaur
>> 
>> Myers, Timothy S.(2010) 'A new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Upper 
>> Cretaceous (Cenomanian- Turonian) Eagle Ford Group of Texas', Journal of 
>> Vertebrate Paleontology, 30: 1, 280 — 287
>> 
>> I don't know of any ornithocheirid with such a dorsoventrally flattened 
>> mandible with a slight dishy curve. But there are other such taxa in the 
>> Solnhofen formation, all smaller. Methinks it's more like one of those.
>> 
>> David Peters
>> St. Louis
>                                         
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