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The fossil remains of a pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Jurassic: Tithonian) of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, central England are identified as a partial left first wing finger phalanx. The elongation of the phalanx and distinctive morphology of the proximal articular region, in particular the square outline of the extensor tendon process, permit the specimen to be assigned to Ctenochasmatoidea. Although fragmentary, it is sufficiently well preserved to determine accurately its dimensions when complete. Morphometric analysis reveals the specimen to represent one of the largest known examples of a Jurassic pterosaur, with an estimated wingspan of at least 3 m, and is one of the first pterodactyloids to be reported from the Jurassic of the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A re-examination of fossil material from the Late Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand Member (CGM) of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation revealed a number of new specimens of edentulous pterosaur jaw fragments previously identified as shark fin spines and fish jaws and accessioned under the epithet 'cestraciontid finray' and 'jaws of fish'. These are now recognised as pterosaurian jaw tips and referred to Ornithostoma sedgwicki Seeley, 1891 and Azhdarchoidea indet. This material increases the diversity of edentulous pterosaurs from the CGM. The edentulous pterosaur Ornithostoma sedgwicki Seeley, 1891 from the Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand of eastern England is reviewed. The holotype specimen is confirmed as a fragment of a premaxilla/maxilla of a non-tapejarid azhdarchoid on account of the conspicuous curvature of the dorsal and occlusal margins posteriorly and the presence of small neural foramina on the lateral margins. Neural foramina are not seen on jaws of members of the Pteranodontia, a group to which O. sedgwicki was included previously. The referral of O. sedgwicki to Azhdarchoidea eliminates the single known Lower Cretaceous occurrence of Pteranodontidae, restricting the temporal range of this taxon to the Upper Cretaceous. Postcranial material referred to O. sedgwicki from the type horizon is regarded as indeterminate Pterosauria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The assignment of a fragment of the anterior tip of a pterosaur rostrum from the Cenomanian Cambridge Greensand of eastern England to the ornithocheirid Coloborhynchus capito () is confirmed. The fragment represents partial left and right fused premaxillae and retains broken teeth within alveoli. A width across the palate of 57.4 mm, a height at the anterior rostrum in excess of 95 mm and a tooth with a diameter of 13 mm at the base of the crown indicates a remarkably large individual, tentatively estimated to have had a skull length in excess of 0.75 m and a wing span of up to 7 m. This fragment represents the largest toothed pterosaur yet reported. This find, and several other large postcranial fragments from the Cambridge Greensand, suggest that ornithocheirids, toothed ornithocheiroids known from the earliest Early to early Late Cretaceous (Valanginian–Cenomanian) achieved very large, but not giant size. Pteranodontids, edentulous ornithocheiroids currently known only from the mid Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian–early Campanian), reached similar dimensions, up to 7.25 m in wing span. Contrary to popular myth, however, ornithocheiroids did not attain the giant sizes (wing spans of 10 m or more) achieved by azhdarchids in the late Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pterosaurs reached only modest sizes in the Triassic-Jurassic. By contrast, the Cretaceous saw a trend toward large to giant size (2 m to >6 m wingspans), and while small-medium (<1 m–2 m wingspans) sized forms are known from the Lower Cretaceous they are rare in the Upper Cretaceous. This pattern has been ascribed to the appearance of birds in the mid-Mesozoic, and their displacement of pterosaurs from niches previously occupied by small-medium sized forms. Here we show how new finds of small-very small pterosaurs (<1 m wingspans) from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco point to several sampling biases of the data upon which these patterns are founded. Evidence for the size range of these pterosaurs strongly correlates with sample-size: as the sample increased (from <100 to >400 specimens) both very small and giant forms have been discovered. Histological analysis suggests that very small/small morphs are immature individuals rather than species in which adults were small-bodied. This new data shows that size distribution patterns based on all available specimens differ markedly from those based on a much more restricted sub-set of named taxa. Critically, this analysis reveals that pterosaur size ranges in the Cretaceous do not reflect a switch to large and giant size, but an extension of the size range from very small through to giant forms. Cretaceous niches previously occupied by small pterosaurs in the Triassic and Jurassic were increasingly occupied not by birds but by early ontogenetic stages of large and giant pterosaurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new pterosaur specimen comprising a partial skull and associated postcranial elements from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of Yaverland, Isle of Wight, southern England, is assigned to a new genus and species of ornithocheirid pterosaur, Caulkicephalus trimicrodon gen. et sp. nov., based on several unique features including a heterodont dentition in which the fifth, sixth and seventh teeth are reduced in size compared with those at positions 1–4 and 8–9; the presence of a frontoparietal crest and maxillopremaxillary crest that do not unite over the antorbital fenestra or cranium; a palatal ridge that extends no further forward than the eighth to ninth tooth pairs. The new taxon is the second species of pterosaur from the Wealden Group of the Wessex Basin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The global fossil record of lowermost Cretaceous pterosaurs is meagre, and much of the material is fragmentary. Here we report three occurrences of pterosaurs from the Rosablanca Formation (Valanginian), the first records of this extinct group of flying reptiles from Colombia. Specimens from Zapatoca, Santander Department, consist of fragments of the left mandible and the proximal portion of a wing phalange. A third specimen, from Cundinamarca Department, is the proximal termination of a radius. Although fragmentary, these remains are clearly pterosaurian, on account of their remarkably thin bone walls and provide evidence of pterodactyloids, including a large non-pteranodontian ornithocheiroid, in the northernmost part of South America in the lowermost Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new pterosaur, Afrotapejara zouhri i gen. et sp. is described on the basis of a partial rostral fragment from the Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Takmout, near Erfoud in southern Morocco. The taxon is distinguished from all other Tapejaridae on the possession of a dorsal expansion of the rostral margin a short distance from the rostral tip. Tapejarid features include a downturned rostrum (autapomorphic), edentuly, expansion of the rostral median crest (autapomorphic) and the presence of small foramina on the lateral margins and occlusal surface. The new specimen is the fourth edentulous pterosaur taxon from the Kem Kem beds and is the first unambiguous occurrence of Tapejaridae in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new genus and species of edentulous pterodactyloid pterosaur with a distinctive partial rostrum from the mid-Cretaceous (?Albian/Cenomanian) Kem Kem beds of southeast Morocco is described. The taxon is assigned to Chaoyangopteridae based upon its edentulous jaws, elongate rostrum and slightly concave dorsal outline. The rostral cross-section is rounded dorsally and concave on the occlusal surface. The lateral margins are gently convex dorsally becoming slightly wider toward the occlusal border, and a row of small lateral foramina parallel to the dorsal margin determines it as a taxon distinct from other chaoyangopterids. Apatorhamphus gyrostega gen et sp. nov. is a pterosaur of medium to large size (wingspan likely somewhere between ~3 m and ~7 m). This new species brings the number of named Kem Kem azhdarchoids to three, and the number of named Kem Kem pterosaurs to five, indicating a high pterosaur diversity for the Kem Kem beds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pterodactyloid pterosaurs underwent a diversification in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, followed by a major turnover event in the mid-Cretaceous, when ornithocheirids and basal azhdarchoids were replaced by pteranodontids, nyctosaurids and azhdarchids in the latest Cretaceous. However, precise patterns of turnover are obscured by the incompleteness of the pterosaur fossil record. Fossils from the middle Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Morocco (?Albian –Cenomanian) have helped shed light on the diversity of pterosaurs from this time and provide a window into the diversity of a continental pterosaur assemblage from this critical transitional period. Two toothed pterosaurs, the ornithocheirids Siroccopteryx moroccensis and Coloborhynchus fluviferox , have been reported from the Kem Kem beds. Here, we report a partial mandible and two premaxillae representing three additional taxa of toothed pterosaurs. The mandibular symphysis closely resembles that of Anhanguera piscator from the Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation of Brazil in the arrangement and spacing of the alveoli, the weak anterior upturn of the jaw, and the ventral crest. One premaxilla closely resembles that of the ornithocheirid Ornithocheirus simus from the Cambridge Greensand Formation of eastern England. A second premaxilla is referred to Coloborhynchus , bearing similarities to C. clavirostris from the Hastings Group of southern England, and C. fluviferox from the Kem Kem beds of Morocco. In total, the Kem Kem pterosaur fauna includes at least nine species, of which five are ornithocheirids. The Kem Kem assemblage supports the hypothesis that toothed pterosaurs remained diverse during the mid Cretaceous before disappearing from post-Cenomanian strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meeting ‘Two Hundred Years of Pterosaurs’ was held in Toulouse, France, from 5 to 8 September 2001. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]