Ornithocheiroidea
Encyclopedia
Ornithocheiroidea is an extinct group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea
.
s. While no ornithocheiroid footprints are known, it is likely that they also walked erect. Among pterosaurs, ornithocheiroids had unusually uneven limb proportions, with the forelimbs much longer than the hind limbs. This would likely have required them to use unique modes of locomotion when on the ground compared to other pterosaurs. It is possible that ornithocheiroids ran (but not walked) bipedally, or that they used a hopping gait. Pterosaur researcher Mike Habib has noted that the limbs proportions of ornithocheiroids like Anhanguera
are consistent with hopping.
after Unwin (2003).
Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles...
.
Locomotion
Ornithocheiroids, like other pterosaurs, are considered to have been skilled fliers as well as adept at moving on the ground. Evidence from footprints shows that most pterosaurs did not sprawl their limbs to a large degree, as in modern reptiles, but rather held the limbs relatively erect when walking, like dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. While no ornithocheiroid footprints are known, it is likely that they also walked erect. Among pterosaurs, ornithocheiroids had unusually uneven limb proportions, with the forelimbs much longer than the hind limbs. This would likely have required them to use unique modes of locomotion when on the ground compared to other pterosaurs. It is possible that ornithocheiroids ran (but not walked) bipedally, or that they used a hopping gait. Pterosaur researcher Mike Habib has noted that the limbs proportions of ornithocheiroids like Anhanguera
Anhanguera (pterosaur)
Anhanguera is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Lower-Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil, with referred specimens found in the Upper Chalk Formation and Cambridge Greensand of the UK...
are consistent with hopping.
Classification
Listing of families after Unwin (2006), except where noted.- Superfamily Ornithocheiroidea
- Family IstiodactylidaeIstiodactylidaeIstiodactylidae is a small family of pterosaurs. This family was named in 2001 after the type genus Istiodactylus was discovered not to be a member of the genus Ornithodesmus....
- Family BoreopteridaeBoreopteridaeBoreopteridae is a group of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.-Palaeoecology:...
- Family OrnithocheiridaeOrnithocheiridaeOrnithocheiridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were among the last pterosaurs to possess teeth.-Classification:Listing of genera after Unwin , except where noted.* Family Ornithocheiridae** ?Aetodactylus...
- Family NyctosauridaeNyctosauridaeNyctosauridae is a family of specialized soaring pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America and, possibly, Europe. It was named in 1889 by Henry Alleyne Nicholson and Richard Lydekker....
- Family PteranodontidaePteranodontidaeThe Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America.The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh....
- Family Istiodactylidae
Phylogeny
CladogramCladogram
A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...
after Unwin (2003).