Lonchodectidae was first named by paleontologistReginald Walter Hooley in 1914,[9] and was first considered to only contain species ofLonchodectes.[10] A taxonomic review of pterosaurs from theCambridge Greensand in 2013 consideredLonchodectes anomen dubium, and named a new family, Lonchodraconidae, for the remaining species, which had been moved to the new genusLonchodraco.[11]Yixianopterus,[12]Unwindia,Prejanopterus,[13]Draigwenia, andSerradraco[14] have also been considered possible lonchodectids. A taxonomic review of Lonchodectidae by Russian paleontologist Alexander Averianov in 2020 limited the clade toIkrandraco,Lonchodectes, andLonchodraco, thus finding Lonchodraconidae to be synonymous with the earlier name Lonchodectidae.[7]
The most diagnostic features of Lonchodectidae pertain to the teeth and jaws. The teeth on both the upper and lower jaws are generally small, do not vary in size through the length of the jaw, and are placed on raised alveolar margins. The upper palate has a prominent ridge. One genus,Lonchodraco, has prominent crests at the tips of both the skull and mandible, while another,Ikrandraco, only has a crest on the mandible. OnlyLonchodraco andIkrandraco preserve postcrania, which is similar to otherlanceodontians.[7]
Reconstruction ofLonchodectes, with hypothetical bauplan
The cladogram below is a topology recovered by Longrich and colleagues in 2018. In their analysis, they placed the family Lonchodectidae as the sister taxon of the familyBoreopteridae, while also placed within the more inclusive groupOrnithocheiromorpha.[15]
Other studies including Pêgaset al. (2019) and Holgado & Pêgas (2020) however, have only includedIkrandraco andLonchodraco in this group, therefore using the name Lonchodraconidae instead.[1][2]
Postcranial material similar to those of azhdarchoids has previously been referred toLonchodectes;[16] however, this material has later been referred to the azhdarchoidOrnithostoma.[17]Ikrandraco is presumed to have been piscivorous, though this is not completely confirmed.[18]Lonchodraco bore sensor pits similar to those of modern probe feeding birds; though it appears to be unlikely that it was a probe feeder due to its large size and broad jaw ends, it has been suggested that it similarly procured food items on the ground or in water such as fish or insects.[19]
^abPêgas, R.V., Holgado, B., Leal, M.E.C., 2019. "Targaryendraco wiedenrothi gen. nov. (Pterodactyloidea, Pteranodontoidea, Lanceodontia) and recognition of a new cosmopolitan lineage of Cretaceous toothed pterodactyloids",Historical Biology, 1–15.doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1690482
^Unwin, David M. (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs". In Buffetaut, Eric; Mazin Jean-Michel (eds.).Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society Special Publication217. London: Geological Society. pp. 139–190.ISBN1-86239-143-2.
^Witton, M.P., Martill, D.M., and Green, M. (2009). "On pterodactyloid diversity in the British Wealden (Lower Cretaceous) and a reappraisal of “Palaeornis”cliftii Mantell, 1844."Cretaceous Research,30: 676–686.
^Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy, Mark P. Witton (2013)
^Hooley, R.W. 1914. "On the Ornithosaurian genus Ornithocheirus with a review of the specimens from the Cambridge Greensand in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge",Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 8, 78: 529-557
^Unwin, David M. 2001. "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England".Mitteilungen as dem Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe4: 189–222
^ J. Lü, S. Ji, C. Yuan, Y. Gao, Z. Sun and Q. Ji. 2006. New pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning. Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing 195-203
^Witton, Mark P. (2013).Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy
