Rhamphorhynchoidea

{{Short description|Extinct suborder of pterosaurs}} {{Paraphyletic group |auto=yes | name = Rhamphorhynchoids | fossil_range = Late Triassic–Late Cretaceous, {{Fossil range|221|94|latest=66}}Descendant taxon Pterodactyloidea survived to 66 Ma | image = Dimorphodon2DB.jpg | image_alt = "Dimorphodon macronyx" | image_caption = ''Dimorphodon macronyx'' | taxon = Rhamphorhynchoidea | authority = Plieninger, 1901 | includes = *{{extinct}}Anurognathidae *{{extinct}}Campylognathoididae *{{extinct}}Dimorphodontidae *{{extinct}}Eopterosauria *{{extinct}}Rhamphorhynchidae *{{extinct}}Darwinoptera? | excludes = *{{extinct}}Pterodactyloidea | synonyms = *Draconura Haeckel, 1895 *Pterodermata Seeley, 1891 }}

The '''Rhamphorhynchoidea''' forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs and represents an evolutionary grade of primitive members of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic unlike the Pterodactyloidea, which arose from within the Rhamphorhynchoidea as opposed to a more distant common ancestor. Because it is not a completely natural grouping, Rhamphorhynchoidea is not used as a formal group in most scientific literature, though some pterosaur scientists continue to use it as an informal grouping in popular works, such as ''The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time'' by David Unwin, and in some formal studies.<ref name=DU06>{{cite book |last=Unwin |first=David M. |author-link=David M. Unwin |title=The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time |year=2006 |publisher=Pi Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-13-146308-0 |page=246}}</ref><ref name=LJ06>{{cite journal |last=Lü |first=Junchang |author2=Qiang Ji |year=2006 |title=Preliminary results of a phylogenetic analysis of the pterosaurs from western Liaoning and surrounding area |journal=Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=239–261 |url=http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/Lu&Ji_ptero_phylogeny.pdf |access-date=2007-03-10 }}</ref> Rhamphorhynchoids were the first pterosaurs to have appeared, in the late Triassic Period (Norian age, about 210 million years ago<ref name=butleretal2009>Butler, R.J., Barrett, P.M., and gower, D.J. (2009). "Postcranial skeletal pneumaticity and air-sacs in the earliest pterosaurs." ''Biology Letters'', '''5'''(4): 557–560. {{doi|10.1098/rsbl.2009.0139 }}</ref>). Unlike their descendants, the pterodactyloids, most rhamphorhynchoids had teeth and long tails, and most species lacked a bony crest, though several are known to have crests formed from soft tissue like keratin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vecchia |first1=Fabio M. Dalla |last2=Wild |first2=Rupert |last3=Hopf |first3=Hagen |last4=Reitner |first4=Joachim |date=2002-03-14 |title=A crested rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Late Triassic of Austria |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634%282002%29022%5B0196%3AACRPFT%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=196–199 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0196:ACRPFT]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=130013205 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stecher |first=Rico |date=2008-05-01 |title=A new Triassic pterosaur from Switzerland (Central Austroalpine, Grisons), Raeticodactylus filisurensis gen. et sp. nov. |journal=Swiss Journal of Geosciences |language=en |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=185–201 |doi=10.1007/s00015-008-1252-6 |s2cid=128980861 |issn=1661-8734|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>Czerkas, S.A., and Ji, Q. (2002). A new rhamphorhynchoid with a headcrest and complex integumentary structures. In: Czerkas, S.J. (Ed.). ''Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight''. The Dinosaur Museum:Blanding, Utah, 15-41. {{ISBN|1-932075-01-1}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=Kenneth |last2=Unwin |first2=David |last3=Cloward |first3=Karen |last4=Miles |first4=Clifford |last5=Miles |first5=Clark |date=2003-01-01 |title=A new scaphognathine pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA |url=https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/217/1/45 |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |language=en |volume=217 |issue=1 |pages=45–54 |doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2003.217.01.04 |bibcode=2003GSLSP.217...45C |s2cid=129087640 |issn=0305-8719|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They were generally small, with wingspans rarely exceeding 2.5 meters, though one specimen alluded to by Alexander Stoyanow would be among the largest pterosaurs of all time with a wingspan of 10 meters, comparable to the largest azhdarchids.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1936-11-16 |title=Science: Diggers |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,756920,00.html |access-date=2022-05-23 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref name=witton2010>{{cite journal | last1 = Witton | first1 = Mark P. | last2 = Martill | first2 = David M. | last3 = Loveridge | first3 = Robert F. | year = 2010 | title = Clipping the Wings of Giant Pterosaurs: Comments on Wingspan Estimations and Diversity | journal = Acta Geoscientica Sinica | volume = 31 | issue = Supp 1| pages = 79–81 }}</ref><ref>[http://markwitton-com.blogspot.pt/2016/06/why-giant-azhdarchid-arambourgiania.html Why the giant azhdarchid Arambourgiania philadelphiae needs a fanclub]</ref> However, this alleged giant Jurassic pterosaur specimen is not recorded anywhere outside the original ''Time'' article.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Witton |first=Mark P. |date=2010-01-01 |title=Pteranodon and beyond: the history of giant pterosaurs from 1870 onwards |url=https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/343/1/313 |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |language=en |volume=343 |issue=1 |pages=313–323 |doi=10.1144/SP343.19 |bibcode=2010GSLSP.343..313W |s2cid=128801077 |issn=0305-8719|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Nearly all rhamphorhynchoids had become extinct by the end of the Jurassic Period, though some anurognathids persisted to the early Cretaceous. The family Wukongopteridae, which shows a mix of rhamphorhynchoid and pterodactyloid features, is known from the Daohugou Beds which are most commonly dated to the Jurassic, but a few studies give a Cretaceous date.<ref>Yuan, Wang and Evans, Susan, [http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app51/app51-127.pdf "A new short-bodied salamander from the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous of China"], ''Acta Palaeontological Polonica'' 51 (1): 127–130, 2006</ref><ref>Fucheng Zhang, Zhonghe Zhou, Xing Xu, Xiaolin Wang & Corwin Sullivan, [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7216/full/nature07447.html "A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers"], ''Nature'' 455, 1105–1108 (23 October 2008). The authors note that "The age of the Daohugou sediments is contentious, with possible dates ranging from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. However, published radioisotopic dating results span a narrower range from 152 to 168 Myr (Middle to Late Jurassic)"</ref> Furthermore, remains of a non-pterodactyloid from the Candeleros Formation extend the presence of basal pterosaurs into at least the early Late Cretaceous.<ref>Haluza, A. Y Apesteguía, S, Pterosaur remains (Archosauria, Ornithodira) from the early Late Cretaceous of “La Buitrera”, Río Negro, Argentina, Jornada; XXIII Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2007</ref>

==Classification==

===Taxonomy=== Listing of families and superfamilies within the suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea, after Unwin 2006 unless otherwise noted.<ref name=DU06/> * '''Order Pterosauria''' ** '''Suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea''' * ***Clade Eopterosauria ****''Preondactylus''? ****''Austriadactylus''? ****Clade Eudimorphodontia *****''Peteinosaurus''? *****Family Eudimorphodontidae *****Family Raeticodactylidae *** Family Dimorphodontidae *** Family Anurognathidae *** Family Campylognathoididae *** Family Rhamphorhynchidae **** Subfamily Rhamphorhynchinae **** Subfamily Scaphognathinae *** Clade Darwinoptera? **** ''Pterorhynchus'' **** Family Wukongopteridae

* Rhamphorhynchoids of uncertain relationships (''incertae sedis'') ** ''Comodactylus'' ** ''Laopteryx''

==References== {{reflist|2}} * Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs." In Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., eds. ''Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs''. London: Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, 2003, pp. 139–190.

Category:Pterosaurs Category:Reptile clades Category:Paraphyletic groups