| Lonchodectes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lectotype jaw fragment (A–D) and assigned rostrum fragment (E–H) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Pteranodontoidea |
| Clade: | †Ornithocheiromorpha |
| Family: | †Lonchodectidae Hooley, 1914 |
| Genus: | †Lonchodectes Hooley, 1914 |
| Type species | |
| †Pterodactylus compressirostris Owen, 1851 | |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
| |
Lonchodectes (meaning "lance biter") is agenus oflonchodectidpterosaur from severalformations dating to theTuronian (Late Cretaceous) ofEngland, mostly in the area aroundKent. The species belonging to it had been assigned toOrnithocheirus untilDavid Unwin's work of the 1990s and 2000s.[1] Several potential species are known; most are based on scrappy remains, and have gone through several other generic assignments. The genus is part of the complextaxonomy issues surrounding Early Cretaceous pterosaurs fromBrazil and England, such asAmblydectes,Anhanguera,Coloborhynchus, andOrnithocheirus.[2]
Numerous species have been referred to this genus over time, and only those more widely connected with the genus are included here.
Thetype species,L. compressirostris, isbased on NHMUK 39410, a partial upper jaw from the Turonian-age Upper Cretaceous Upper Chalk near Kent.Richard Owen named in 1851 as a species ofPterodactylus;[3] it was transferred toOrnithocheirus in 1870 byHarry Govier Seeley,[4] before becoming the type species ofLonchodectes inReginald Walter Hooley's 1914 review ofOrnithocheirus.[5] Confusingly, this species was also long regarded, incorrectly, as the type species ofOrnithocheirus.[6]
A variety of postcranial remains resembling those of azhdarchoids from the Cambridge Greensand have been referred toLonchodectes;[6][7][8] however, much of this material has since been referred toOrnithostoma.[9]
In 2019, the Brazilian palaeontologist Rodrigo V. Pêgas and colleagues suggested that the type specimen ofLonchodectes compressirostris could represent the same species asCimoliopterus cuvieri. They cautioned this is impossible to confirm until associated skull and mandible material is found.[10]
Hooley added two other species at this time, both of which had also been originally referred toPterodactylus, then toOrnithocheirus:L. giganteus, aCenomanian-age jaw fragment from the Chalk of Kent;[11] andL. daviesii, another jaw fragment, from theAlbian-age Gault Clay.[12]
"Pterodactylus" sagittirostris, based on NHMUK R.1823, a lower jaw fragment from the ?Valanginian-Hauterivian-age Lower Cretaceous Hastings Beds ofEast Sussex,[12]"Ornithocheirus" platystomus,[4]"Ornithocheirus" machaerorhynchus, and"O." microdon were assigned toLonchodectes in a 2001 review by David Unwin of Cambridge Greensand pterosaurs.[6] joiningL. compressirostris,L. giganteus,L. platystomus, andL. sagittirostris in his listing of valid species.[13] However,L. giganteus,L. machaerorhynchus, andL. microdon have since been assigned to a new genus,Lonchodraco, whileL. sagittirostris has been renamedSerradraco.[2][14]L. platystomus may be a species ofAmblydectes.[2] In 2020, a review of Lonchodectidae was conducted by paleontologist Alexander Averianov, where he reassigned the speciesL. machaerorhynchus to the genusIkrandraco due to similarities in rostral morphology, asI. machaerorhynchus, and he also consideredL. microdon a junior synonym ofmachaerorhynchus. Therefore,Lonchodectes is limited to its type species,L. compressirostris.[15]
In Peter Wellnhofer's 1991The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs, written before Unwin's work, the species were included withinOrnithocheirus (because ofL. compressirostris being thought to be the type species), and are in fact the main fossils illustrated to represent the genus.[16] In 2003, Unwin placed them in their own family,Lonchodectidae, which he grouped within the groupCtenochasmatoidea,[17] while in 2006, he placed the family Lonchodectidae within the Azhdarchoidea, the group that includes thetapejarids andazhdarchids.[13]
The cladogram below is a topology recovered by Longrich and colleagues in 2018. In their analysis, they placedLonchodectes within the family Lonchodectidae as the sister taxon ofLonchodraco. Contrary to previous analyses, Longrich and colleagues placed Lonchodectidae (includingLonchodectes) within the more inclusive groupOrnithocheiromorpha.[18]
Lonchodectes had long jaws with many short teeth, and the jaws were compressed vertically, like "a pair ofsugar tongs with teeth".[19] Related species (including several taxa formerly included within the genus) had crests on their lower jaws, so the same probably also applied toL. compressirostris.[20]
