Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England
Author
Rodrigues, Taissa
Department of Biology, Agrarian Sciences Center, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo. Alto Universitario s / n, Caixa Postal 16, Guararema, CEP 29500 - 000, Alegre, ES, Brazil
taissa.rodrigues@gmail.com
Author
Kellner, Alexander Wilhelm Armin
Laboratory of Systematics and Taphonomy of Fossil Vertebrates, Department of Geology and Paleontology, Museu Nacional / Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Quinta da Boa Vista s / n, Sao Cristovao, CEP 20940 - 040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
text
ZooKeys
2013
2013-06-12
308
1
112
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.308.5559
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.308.5559
1313-2970-308-1
EEC31850AAAB4081B05AB80A2D944658
FFA2FFFEFFE74632FFB7FFC7D553CE26
577662
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus Seeley, 1870
(nomen dubium)
Fig. 19J-K
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
Seeley:
Seeley 1870
: p. 117
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
Seeley:
Seeley 1881
: p. 18, plate I, fig. 2
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
Seeley:
Hooley 1914
: p. 538
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
Seeley:
Arthaber 1922
: p. 17
Anhanguera cuvieri
(Bowerbank):
Unwin 2001
: table 1
Holotype.
anterior portion of the rostrum (collection data could not be recovered) (
Fig. 19J-K
).
Type locality.
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
Type horizon.
Cambridge Greensand (Cenomanian; fossils Albian in age).
Description.
The holotype of
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
was illustrated by
Seeley (1881
: plate I,
Figs 2a and 2b
), and, as the type material of
'Ornithocheirus'
reedi
, belonged to the collection of W. Reed of York at the time when it was first described. It could not be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, or the Manchester Museum during visits in October 2009. Therefore, we base our remarks on the descriptions and illustrations provided by
Seeley (1870
,
1881
).
The species was based on a fragmentary mandible, lacking the tip. It did not have a dentary crest (
Seeley 1870
).
Unwin (2001)
recently referred it to
Anhanguera
[=
Cimoliopterus
]
cuvieri
. However, the latter is known by a cranial material from the Chalk Formation, whereas
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus
is known only by a partial lower jaw from the Cambridge Greensand. As both species are known by material which is not directly comparable, the proposed synonymy can be rejected.