Talk:Pterodactylus
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Pterodactylus is a specific genus of pterosaur. It is a different term to pterodactyl which is a common term for pterosaurs as a whole. Any information on pop culture etc. should be palced at the pterodactyl article. Martyman 03:48, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] Pterodactylus elegans
Jouve (2004) demonstrated that Pterodactylus elegans is probably a species of Ctenochasma, resulting in the new combination Ctenochasma elegans (Wagner, 1861) comb. nov. For this reason, remove elegans from the Pterodactylus species list and transfer it to Ctenochasma.
Stéphane, J., 2004. Description of the skull of a *Ctenochasma* (Pterosauria) from the latest Jurassic of eastern France, with a taxonomic revision of European Tithonian Pterodactyloidea, JVP 24(3):542-554.
[edit] Status of German Pterodactylus
A study by Mateer (1976) recognizes two species of Pterodactylus from Germany: Pterodactylus antiquus (P. kochi is a junior synonym) and P. micronyx.
Mateer, N. J. 1976 A statistical study of the genus Pterodactylus. Bull. geol. Inst. Univ. Uppsala 6, 97-105.
Pterodactylus grandipelvis and P. grandis may also be synonyms of P. antiquus, because they are nomina dubia. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.194.116.63 (talk) 19:38, 29 December 2006 (UTC).
[edit] French, British, and Tanzanian Pterodactylus
Pterodactylus is represented in Britain, France, and Tanzania each by two species. The British species are Pterodactylus manseli and Pterodactylus pleydelli, the French species are Pterodactylus cerinensis and Pterodactylus suprajurensis, and Tanzanian species are Pterodactylus arningi and Pterodactylus maximus. Add these species to this page. In all, there are 8 species of Pterodactylus (2 in Britain, 2 in France, 2 in Germany [P. kochi is synonymous with P. antiquus, according to Mateer, 1976], and 2 in Tanzania). This number of Pterodactylus species suggests that Pterodactylus is widespread.
Mateer, N. J. 1976 A statistical study of the genus Pterodactylus. Bull. geol. Inst. Univ. Uppsala 6, 97-105. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.194.116.63 (talk) 20:00, 29 December 2006 (UTC).
- Most of those species are too dubious to assign definately to P.. I'll dig up cites if I can, but I haven't seen a survey in years that lists more than 3 valid species of P. They can certainly be discussed in the text, but I wouldn't list them in the taxobox. Dinoguy2 21:14, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Length?
it doesnt say how long they were so cant really get the proportions.....
[edit] Revision of the genus Pterodactylus
Bennett (1996, 2003) provided evidence that Pterodactylus kochi is conspecific with P. antiquus. Bennett (1996) demonstrated P. micronyx to be the juvenile of Gnathosaurus subulatus. These conclusions are based on analyses that plot the measurements of Pterodactylus elements against their size frequency. His revision of the genus Pterodactylus shows that the German Pterodactylus is represented by only one species. He originally considered Germanodactylus, a similar pterodactylid, to be a species of Pterodactylus (as P. sp.), but later (2006) showed Germanodactylus to be distinct from Pterodactylus. Jouve (2004) concluded that Diopecephalus is related to Pterodactylus. The revised synonymy of the German Pterodactylus (modified from http://archosauria.org/pterosauria/taxonomy/species.pdf) is presented below:
Pterodactylus Cuvier, 1809 emend. Rafinesque, 1815
=Ornithocephalus von Sömmering, 1812
= "Pterotherium" Fischer, 1813
= Macrotrachelus Giebel, 1852
= Ptenodracon Lydekker, 1888
P. antiquus (von Sömmering, 1812) Lydekker, 1888
= Ornithocephalus antiquus von Sömmering, 1812
= Ornithocephalus brevirostris von Sömmering, 1816–17
= Ptenodracon brevirostris (von Sömmering, 1816–17) Lydekker, 1888
= Pterodactylus brevirostris (von Sömmering, 1816–17) Oken, 1819
= Pterodactylus longirostris Cuvier, 1819
= Macrotrachelus longirostris (Cuvier, 1819) Giebel, 1852
= Ornithocephalus longirostris (Cuvier, 1819) Ritgen, 1826
= Pterodactylus "suevicus" Oken, 1825
= Pterodactylus crocodilocephaloides Ritgen, 1826
= Ornithocephalus kochi Wagner, 1837
= Pterodactylus kochi (Wagner, 1837) von Meyer, 1859
= Diopecephalus kochi (Wagner, 1837) Seeley, 1871
= Ornithocephalus kochi (Wagner, 1837) Lydekker, 1888
= Pterodactylus meyeri Münster, 1842
= Ornithocephalus meyeri (Münster, 1842) Wagner, 1851
= Pterodactylus scolopaciceps von Meyer, 1850
= Rhamphorhynchus scolopaciceps (von Meyer, 1850)
= Pterodactylus spectabilis von Meyer, 1861
Bennett, S. C. 1996. Year-classes of pterosaurs from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany: taxonomic and systematic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16:432-444.
Bennett, S. C. 2003. New information on the genera Pterodactylus and Germanodactylus from the Solnhofen Limestone of southern Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23(Suppl. to #3):33A.
Bennett, S. C. 2006. Juvenile specimens of the pterosaur Germanodactylus cristatus, with a review of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26:872-878.
Jouve, S., 2004. Description of the skull of a Ctenochasma (Pterosauria) from the Late Jurassic of eastern France, with a taxonomic revision of European Tithonian Pterodactyloidea. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: 3: 542-554.
Therefore, update the Pterodactylus taxobox and page, once Bennett publishes his (2003) abstract as a full paper.
- Any idea if/when this is going to be published? The abstract came out four years ago, and Bennett has published on similar subjects in the interval. Dinoguy2 03:25, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
I don't know, but I would say that Bennett will publish his work concerning the synonymy of Pterodactylus kochi with P. antiquus and the distinctness of Daitingopterus (to be published as new genus for "Pterodactylus rhamphastinus"), Diopecephalus, and Germanodactylus will be published later this year. Germanodactylus will be restricted to the type species, G. cristatus (Witman, 1925), with G. rhamphastinus (Wagner, 1851) to be made the type of the new genus Daitingopterus.
