Name:
Lonchognathosaurus
(Lance jaw lizard).
Phonetic: Lon-cho-na-tho-sore-us.
Named By: Michael Maisch, Andreas Matzke and Sun Ge
- 2004.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria,
Pterodactyloidea, Dsungaripteroidea, Dsungaripteridae.
Species: L. acutirostris (type).
Diet: Shellfish.
Size: 40 centimetre skull.
Known locations: China, Kinjiang - Lianmuqin
Formation.
Time period: Albian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial front skull and lower
jaw remains.
Lonchognathosaurus
had jaws that were typical of the dsungaripterid pterosaurs
in that
they were pointed and lacked teeth towards the front of the snout. It's
thought that pterosaurs like Lonchognathosaurus
used this design to dig
out invertebrates so that they can be crushed with the stout teeth
towards the rear of the mouth.
Lonchognathosaurus
has been considered by some to be a junior synonym to Dsungaripterus,
although the snout of Lonchognathosaurus seems to
have been less curved
than the snout of Dsungaripterus. Additional
speculation is that fossils of Lonchognathosaurus
may actually
represent the genus Noripterus.
Further reading
- A new dsungaripteroid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the
southern Junggar Basin, north-west China. - Cretaceous Research
25:625-634. - M. W. Maisch, A. T. Matzke & G. Sun - 2004.
- A new rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Xinjiang,
China, and the phylogenetic relationships of basal pterosaurs. -
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (1): 163–187. - B. Andres, J. M.
Clark & X. Xing - 2010.
- A taxonomic revision of Noripterus complicidens and Asian members of
the Dsungaripteridae. - Geological Society SP455. New Perspectives on
Pterosaur Palaeobiology - D. W. E. Hone, S. Jiang & X. Xu -
2017.