Azhdarchids were long-necked,
toothless Pterosaurs, which came to dominate Pterosaur assemblages in the Late
Creataceous. They were large animals, often with wingspans in excess of 10 m,
and appear to have favoured fully terrestrial environments (unlike many earlier
Pterosaurs which lived in coastal environments).
In a paper published in the
American Museum Novitates on 17 March 2015, Mátyás Vremir of the Department of
Natural Sciences of the Transylvanian Museum Society, Mark Witton of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, Darren Naish of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton,
Gareth Dyke, also of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of
Southampton, and of the Lendület Behavioural Ecology Research Group at the University of Debrecen, Stephern Brusatte of the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, Mark Norrel of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and Radu Totoianu of the Ioan Raica Municipal Museum,
describe a mid-neck cervical vertebra from an unknown Azhdarchid Pterosaur
from Bărbat Formation at Pui in Transylvania, part of the distinctive
End-Cretaceous fauna of the Haţeg Basin.
The specimen is an almost
complete cervical vertebra, slightly crushes at its posterior end and lacking a
condyle. It is 89 mm in length, but was probably about 97-100 mm long when
complete.
(Left) Photographs of LPV (FGGUB) R.2395, an almost complete cervical
four from Pui, Haţeg basin, in anterior (A), dorsal (B), posterior (C), lateral
(D), left lateral, inverted, (E) and right lateral (F) views. (Right)
Interpretative drawing in anterior (A), ventral (B), dorsal (C), and right (D)
and left lateral (E) views. Abbreviations: Cot, cotyla; DPrezygT, dorsal
prezygapophyseal tubercle; Hyp, hypapophysis; Intzyg, interzygapophyseal
area/space; NS, neural spine; Prezyg, prezygapophysis; Trab, trabecula;
VPrezygT, ventral prezygapophyseal tubercle. Vremir et al. (2015).
The cervical vertebrae of
Azhdarchid Pterosaurs are morphologically distinct; it is possible to identify
the position of a vertebra from the neck of one of these animals by its shape.
The specimen does not appear to have come from any previously described
species, but by comparison to other members of the group feel that it is most
likely to be the fourth vertebra (counting backwards from the skull).
While Vremir et al. believe the specimen to come from a previously described
species of Pterosaur, they refrain from describing it as a new species due to
the fragmentary nature of the material. It appears to have belonged to an
individual smaller than any previously described species from the Haţeg Basin,
with a shorter and stouter neck (which would have enabled it to take different
prey). However it is also apparently from a young animal, and young Azhdarchid
Pterosaurs are known to have had shorter necks than mature adults (unlike
Birds, Pterosaurs took several years to reach maturity, and were capable of
flying long before they reached their full size), and the fourth vertebra is
not known in many Azhdarchid species, making direct comparison to other
specimens difficult.
See also…
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The Pterosaur Zhenyuanopterus longirostris was described from a single specimen from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation (part of the Jehol....
Among the many remarkable fossils of the Jehol Biota Lagerstätte of northeast China a number of well preserved Pterosaurs have been discovered. One of these, Feolongus youngi, from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning Province, is thought to have been...
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