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A new ctenochasmatid, Balaenognathus, enters the large pterosaur tree
Sunday, January 22, 2023 13:09
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Wonderful new fossil pterosaur. Only a few changes today. Balaenognathus (Martill et al 2023, NKMB P2011-633, Figs 1–3) is a beautifully preserved fossil pterosaur from Solnhofen (Late Jurassic) limestones. This mid-sized ctenochasmatid had a laterally expanded dentary tip and a full arcade of needle-like teeth with hook-ish tips. These traits, and those long legs, distinguish Balaenognathus from closely related taxa, like Ctenochasma elegans(SMNS 81803, Fig 3, known from skull-only data) and more basal ctenochasmatids.
Figure 1. Balaenognathus in situ. Here shown rotated 180º to bring the light source to the traditional top.
It came as a pleasant surprise to see the authors applying colors to digitally segregate bones in their graphics (Fig 2).
Ctenochasmatid skull elements are well known from several specimens (Fig 3). The maxillae contact one another at mid-rostrum, covering the ascending process of the premaxilla and the nasals at that point.
The nesting of Pterodactylus basal to the invalid clade, Pterodactyloidea is also troublesome. When more taxa are added Pterodactyloidea break up into four convergent clades, two are shown in figure 3 arising from various specimens attributed to Dorygnathus.
Both taxon exclusion traditions indicate the authors are cherry-picking rather than scientifically testing a wide gamut of taxa to determine outgroups and ingroups. The LRT and LPT minimize taxon exclusion by including 2206 and 266 taxa respectively.
Balaenognathus is a beautiful and unique specimen. Thankfully, the authors decided it was time to apply DGS colors to the bones. That served this study well. Next time let’s hope pterosaur authors will add two hundred more taxa to their pterosaur cladograms. Twenty years of taxon exclusion is long enough.
References Martill DM, Frey E, Tischlinger H, Mäuser M, Riversa-Sylva HE and Vidovic SU 2023. A new pterodactyloid pterosaur with a unique filter‑feeding apparatus from the Late Jurassic of Germany. PalZ https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-022-00644-4
