A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.

<h4>Background</h4>Pterosaurs have been known from the Cretaceous sediments of the Isle of Wight (southern England, United Kingdom) since 1870. We describe the three-dimensional pelvic girdle and associated vertebrae of a small near-adult pterodactyloid from the Atherfield Clay Formation...

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Autores principales:	Darren Naish, Martin Simpson, Gareth Dyke
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/cdd9e63754af433f9c793cff42ecec82
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:cdd9e63754af433f9c793cff42ecec822021-11-18T07:53:10ZA new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0058451https://doaj.org/article/cdd9e63754af433f9c793cff42ecec822013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23526986/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Pterosaurs have been known from the Cretaceous sediments of the Isle of Wight (southern England, United Kingdom) since 1870. We describe the three-dimensional pelvic girdle and associated vertebrae of a small near-adult pterodactyloid from the Atherfield Clay Formation (lower Aptian, Lower Cretaceous). Despite acknowledged variation in the pterosaur pelvis, previous studies have not adequately sampled or incorporated pelvic characters into phylogenetic analyses.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>The new specimen represents the new taxon Vectidraco daisymorrisae gen. et sp. nov., diagnosed by the presence of a concavity posterodorsal to the acetabulum and the form of its postacetabular process on the ilium. Several characters suggest that Vectidraco belongs to Azhdarchoidea. We constructed a pelvis-only phylogenetic analysis to test whether the pterosaur pelvis carries a useful phylogenetic signal. Resolution in recovered trees was poor, but they approximately matched trees recovered from analyses of total evidence. We also added Vectidraco and our pelvic characters to an existing total-evidence matrix for pterosaurs. Both analyses recovered Vectidraco within Azhdarchoidea.<h4>Conclusions/ significance</h4>The Lower Cretaceous strata of western Europe have yielded members of several pterosaur lineages, but Aptian pterosaurs from western Europe are rare. With a pelvis length of 40 mm, the new animal would have had a total length of c. 350 mm, and a wingspan of c. 750 mm. Barremian and Aptian pterodactyloids from western Europe show that small-bodied azhdarchoids lived alongside ornithocheirids and istiodactylids. This assemblage is similar in terms of which lineages are represented to the coeval beds of Liaoning, China; however, the number of species and specimens present at Liaoning is much higher. While the general phylogenetic composition of western European and Chinese communities appear to have been approximately similar, the differences may be due to different palaeoenvironmental and depositional settings. The western Europe pterodactyloid record may therefore be artificially low in diversity due to preservational factors.Darren NaishMartin SimpsonGareth DykePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 3, p e58451 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Darren Naish Martin Simpson Gareth Dyke A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Pterosaurs have been known from the Cretaceous sediments of the Isle of Wight (southern England, United Kingdom) since 1870. We describe the three-dimensional pelvic girdle and associated vertebrae of a small near-adult pterodactyloid from the Atherfield Clay Formation (lower Aptian, Lower Cretaceous). Despite acknowledged variation in the pterosaur pelvis, previous studies have not adequately sampled or incorporated pelvic characters into phylogenetic analyses.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>The new specimen represents the new taxon Vectidraco daisymorrisae gen. et sp. nov., diagnosed by the presence of a concavity posterodorsal to the acetabulum and the form of its postacetabular process on the ilium. Several characters suggest that Vectidraco belongs to Azhdarchoidea. We constructed a pelvis-only phylogenetic analysis to test whether the pterosaur pelvis carries a useful phylogenetic signal. Resolution in recovered trees was poor, but they approximately matched trees recovered from analyses of total evidence. We also added Vectidraco and our pelvic characters to an existing total-evidence matrix for pterosaurs. Both analyses recovered Vectidraco within Azhdarchoidea.<h4>Conclusions/ significance</h4>The Lower Cretaceous strata of western Europe have yielded members of several pterosaur lineages, but Aptian pterosaurs from western Europe are rare. With a pelvis length of 40 mm, the new animal would have had a total length of c. 350 mm, and a wingspan of c. 750 mm. Barremian and Aptian pterodactyloids from western Europe show that small-bodied azhdarchoids lived alongside ornithocheirids and istiodactylids. This assemblage is similar in terms of which lineages are represented to the coeval beds of Liaoning, China; however, the number of species and specimens present at Liaoning is much higher. While the general phylogenetic composition of western European and Chinese communities appear to have been approximately similar, the differences may be due to different palaeoenvironmental and depositional settings. The western Europe pterodactyloid record may therefore be artificially low in diversity due to preservational factors.
format	article
author	Darren Naish Martin Simpson Gareth Dyke
author_facet	Darren Naish Martin Simpson Gareth Dyke
author_sort	Darren Naish
title	A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
title_short	A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
title_full	A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
title_fullStr	A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
title_full_unstemmed	A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
title_sort	new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of england and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/cdd9e63754af433f9c793cff42ecec82
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A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the lower cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny.

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