Ben CreislerA new paper:David M. Martill, David M. Unwin, Nizar Ibrahim & Nick Longrich (2017)A new edentulous pterosaur from the Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of south eastern Morocco.Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)HighlightsNetwork dynamics have the power to reveal the function of social behaviours.We explored network dynamics leading up to the fissioning of a social group.Females that would be evicted became less likely to interact with others.Network changes were subtle and revealed only through analysis.Our results align with the idea that social bonds contribute to group cohesion.AbstractA new genus and species, Xericeps curvirostris gen. et sp. nov., is erected for a highly distinctive pterosaur mandible from the mid-Cretaceous (?Albian to lower Cenomanian) Kem Kem beds of south east Morocco. The new taxon is referred to Azhdarchoidea based on the absence of teeth, slenderness of its mandible with sulcate occlusal surface, presence on the posterior section of the mandibular symphysis of short paired ridges bounding a central groove, and the presence of elongate foramina on its occlusal and lateral surfaces. A slight dorsal curvature determines it as a distinct genus of azhdarchoid, as does an autapomorphy: the presence of a continuous longitudinal groove on the ventral midline of the mandibular symphysis. The new species brings to three the number of named pterosaurs from the Kem Kem beds and together with an unnamed tapejarid, points to a relatively diverse pterosaur assemblage in these deposits.
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
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