Genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous
Siroccopteryx
is an extinct
genus
of
anhanguerid
pterodactyloid
pterosaur, known from middle
Cretaceous
(between the
Albian
and
Cenomanian
stages, about 105 million years ago) sediments in modern-day
Morocco
. Some researchers, such as David M. Unwin, consider the genus a
junior synonym
of
Coloborhynchus
.
Description
[
edit
]
The genus was named and described in 1999 by Bryn Mader and Alexander Kellner. The name
Siroccopteryx
means "wing of the
Sirocco
", referring to the warm wind that originates in the
North Africa
and then goes through the
Mediterranean
, and the
Greek
word
pteryx
, a standard suffix for pterosaur genera that means "wing". The epithet of the type species
S. moroccensis
refers to its country of origin.
[1]
[2]
This pterosaur is known only from the front part of the
jaw
with teeth. The
holotype
fossil, LINHM 016 (Long Island Natural History Museum), was found near
Ksar es Souk
, in the province of
Errachidia
in the region of Meknes-Tafilalet at 30.4 ° N, 4.9 ° longitude (17.6 ° N, 4.2 ° W longitude) in Beg'aa, west of Hamada du Guiren in southeastern Morocco, in a layer of red
sandstone
, a fine-grained alluvium from the
Albian
to
Cenomanian
.
[3]
It consists of front teeth and a snout that's not compressed. The
muzzle
was long and narrow, with a large elongated terminal part, along with some sort of shaped crest anterior
keel
higher than that of
Anhanguera
but not as high as that of
Coloborhynchus
or
Tropeognathus
. The teeth were sharp but short and more robust than in
Anhanguera
. The bone is rough and leathery, with strange marks of wrinkles and depressions, this may be a consequence of the conditions of preservation, but the descriptors suggest that indicate a disease, possibly caused by dental abscesses.
[1]
According to Andre Veldmeijer, is probably that this damage was
post-mortem
and indicate the presence of a horn cover in the ridge.
The
wingspan
of this large pterosaur should be 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 ft). It is likely that this animal was a specialized glider, and ventured into the sea off the coast of Africa, to capture
fishes
and other prey that swim near the surface.
Phylogeny
[
edit
]
The descriptors of
Siroccopteryx
placed this genus in the family Anhangueridae
sensu
Kellner
. David Unwin suggested in 2001 that it was a species of
Coloborhynchus
, and thus a member of the
Ornithocheiridae
.
[4]
[5]
This has been controversial. In the same year, Michael Fastnacht suggested it was closer to
Anhanguera
. Kellner and Rodrigues (2009) considered
Siroccopteryx
a distinct genus, and suggested that it formed a clade with
Coloborhynchus clavirostris
and
Uktenadactylus
.
[6]
In 2018, a topology recovered by Longrich
et al.
assigned
Siroccopteryx
to the family Ornithocheiridae as the sister taxon of
Coloborhynchus
.
[7]
In 2019 however, Jacobs
et al.
published an analysis that also recovers
Siroccopteryx
within the family Ornithocheiridae, but they concluded that it would have been more closely related to, and therefore the sister taxon of both
Ornithocheirus
and
Tropeognathus
, which contradicts the conclusion of
Siroccopteryx
being more closely related to
Coloborhynchus
.
[8]
In 2020, a study made by Borja Holgado and Rodrigo Pegas again recovered
Siroccopteryx
as the sister taxon to
Tropeognathus
, however, they assigned both genera to the family Anhangueridae instead of the Ornithocheiridae.
[9]
Topology 1:
Jacobs
et al.
(2019).
[8]
|
Topology 2:
Holgado & Pegas (2020).
[9]
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Mader, BJ; Kellner, Alexander W. A. (1999). "A new pterosaur from the Cretaceous of Morocco".
Boletim do Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro), Geologia
. Nova Serie.
45
: 1?11.
- ^
Ibrahim, Nizar
; Unwin, David M.; Martill, David M.; Baidder, Lahssen; Zouhri, Samir (2010-05-26).
"A New Pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco"
.
PLOS ONE
.
5
(5): e10875.
Bibcode
:
2010PLoSO...510875I
.
doi
:
10.1371/journal.pone.0010875
.
ISSN
1932-6203
.
PMC
2877115
.
PMID
20520782
.
- ^
Mader, B. J.; Alexander W. A. Kellner (1997). "First occurrence of Anhangueridae (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) in Africa".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
.
17
(Suppl. 3): 1?93.
doi
:
10.1080/02724634.1997.10011028
.
- ^
Unwin, David M. (2001).
"An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of eastern England"
.
Fossil Record
.
4
: 189?221.
doi
:
10.1002/mmng.20010040112
.
- ^
Frey, Eberhard; Martill, David M.; Buchy, Marie-Celine (2003). "A new crested ornithocheirid from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern Brazil and the unusual death of an unusual pterosaur". In Eric Buffetaut; Mazin Jean-Michel (eds.).
Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs
. London: The Geological Society. pp. 55?63.
ISBN
978-1-86239-143-7
.
- ^
Rodrigues, Taissa; Alexander W. A. Kellner (2009). "Review of the pterosaur pterodactyloid
Coloborhynchus
".
Zitteliana B
.
28
: 219?228.
- ^
Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018).
"Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary."
PLoS Biology
,
16
(3): e2001663.
doi
:
10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663
- ^
a
b
Jacobs, M.L.; Martill, D.M.; Ibrahim, N.; Longrich, N. (2019).
"A new species of
Coloborhynchus
(Pterosauria, Ornithocheiridae) from the mid-Cretaceous of North Africa"
(PDF)
.
Cretaceous Research
.
95
: 77?88.
doi
:
10.1016/j.cretres.2018.10.018
.
S2CID
134439172
.
- ^
a
b
Holgado, B.; Pegas, R.V. (2020).
"A taxonomic and phylogenetic review of the anhanguerid pterosaur group Coloborhynchinae and the new clade Tropeognathinae"
(PDF)
.
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
.
65
.
doi
:
10.4202/app.00751.2020
.