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Concept
Ornithocheiromorpha
Résumé
Ornithocheiromorpha (from Ancient Greek, meaning "bird hand form") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Fossil remains of this group date back from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 92.5 million years ago. Ornithocheiromorphs were discovered worldwide except Antarctica, though most genera were recovered in Europe, Asia and South America. They were the most diverse and successful pterosaurs during the Early Cretaceous, but throughout the Late Cretaceous they were replaced by better adapted and more advanced pterosaur species such the pteranodontids and azhdarchoids. The Ornithocheiromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues, and they made Ornithocheiromorpha the most inclusive clade containing Ornithocheirus, but not Pteranodon.
Ornithocheiromorphs are considered to be some of the largest animals to have ever flown. Members of this group are also regarded to have some of the largest pterosaur wingspans, such as the one estimated for the huge Tropeognathus, though still not as large as those estimated for the azhdarchids, which may have reached up to . When ornithocheiromorphs first appeared, they were initially scavengers, consisting in a more terrestrial setting, but their success had made them the top predators of the skies, as well as the most common type of fish-eating pterosaur throughout the early Late Cretaceous. Some paleontologists also consider ornithocheiromorphs an earlier step of evolution to the pteranodontids, this is due to the similar flying techniques and flight locomotions, as well as their diet, which mainly consisted of fish, and therefore also hunted very similarly. Ornithocheiromorphs also flew like soaring birds, keeping their wings stretched and rarely flapping.
The first specimens of ornithocheiromorphs were unearthed at a chalk pit near Burham in Kent, England. In 1846, British paleontologist James Scott Bowerbank named and described the remains found as Pterodactylus giganteus, as it was common at that time to assign any new described pterosaur species to Pterodactylus.
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