Pteranodontoidea

Pteranodontoidea
Temporal range: Early-Late Cretaceous, 127–80Ma
Skull of Tropeognathus mesembrinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Clade: Pteranodontia
Clade: Pteranodontoidea
Kellner, 1996
Subgroups

Aetodactylus
Brasileodactylus
Camposipterus
Cearadactylus
Cimoliopterus
Lonchodectes
Ludodactylus
Piksi?[1]
Pteranodon
Anhangueridae
Istiodactylidae
Ornithocheiridae

Synonyms

Euornithocheira Unwin, 2003

Pteranodontoidea is an extinct clade of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous to the Late Cretaceous (middle Barremian to middle Campanian stages) of Asia, Europe, North America and South America.[2] It was named by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996. In 2003, Kellner defined the clade as a node-based taxon consisting of the last common ancestor of Anhanguera, Pteranodon and all its descendants. Ornithocheiroidea is sometimes considered to be the senior synonym of Pteranodontoidea, however its depends on it definition. Ornithocheiroidea was originally defined as an apomorphy-based taxon by Christopher Bennett in 1994. Later, Kellner (2003) redefined it to represent the node of Anhanguera, Pteranodon, Quetzalcoatlus and Dsungaripterus.[3] Later, David Unwin (2003) suggested a different definition, the node that contains Pteranodon longiceps and Istiodactylus latidens, thus making Pteranodontoidea a junior synonym of Ornithocheiroidea.[4] Brian Andres (2008, 2010, 2014) in his analyses, converts Ornithocheiroidea using the definition of Kellner (2003) to avoid this synonymy.[5]

Classification

Below is a cladogram showing the results of a phylogenetic analysis presented by Andres & Myers, 2013.[6] For alternate cladograms, see List of pterosaur classifications.

 Ornithocheiroidea 

Azhdarchoidea


 Pteranodontia 

Nyctosauridae


 Pteranodontoidea 

Pteranodon




Hongshanopterus




Lonchodectes




Istiodactylidae




Boreopteridae




Cearadactylus




Brasileodactylus




Ludodactylus




Anhangueridae



 Ornithocheiridae













References

  1. Federico L. Agnolin and David Varricchio (2012). "Systematic reinterpretation of Piksi barbarulna Varricchio, 2002 from the Two Medicine Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Western USA (Montana) as a pterosaur rather than a bird" (PDF). Geodiversitas 34 (4): 883–894. doi:10.5252/g2012n4a10.
  2. Richard J. Butler, Stephen L. Brusatte, Brian B. Andres and Roger B. J. Benson (2012). "How do geological sampling biases affect studies of morphological evolution in deep time? A case study of the Pterosauria (Reptilia: Archosauria)". Evolution 66 (1): 147–162. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01415.x.
  3. Kellner, A. W. A., (2003): Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the group. pp. 105-137. in Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., (eds.): Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, London, 1-347
  4. Unwin, D. M., (2003): On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs. pp. 139-190. in Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., (eds.): Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, London, 1-347
  5. Andres, Brian Blake (2014). Systematics of the Pterosauria. Yale University. p. 366. A preview that shows the cladogram without clade names
  6. Andres, B.; Myers, T. S. (2013). "Lone Star Pterosaurs". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: 1. doi:10.1017/S1755691013000303.