Rhamphorhynchoidea

Taxobox
name = Rhamphorhynchoids
fossil_range = Late Triassic – Late Jurassic

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image_width = 200px
image_caption = "Rhamphorhynchus".
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Rhamphorhynchoidea*
subordo_authority = Plieninger, 1901
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =
Anurognathidae
Campylognathoididae
Dimorphodontidae
Rhamphorhynchidae

The Rhamphorhynchoidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs and represent a grade of primitive members of this group of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic in relation to the Pterodactyloidea, which arose from within the Ramphorhynchoidea, not from a more distant common ancestor. Because it is not a completely natural grouping, Rhamphorhynchoidea is not used as a formal group in most scientific literature, though some pterosaur scientists continue to use it as an informal grouping in popular works, such as "The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time" by David Unwin, and in some formal studies.cite book |last=Unwin |first=David M. |authorlink=David M. Unwin |title=The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time |year=2006 |publisher=Pi Press |location=New York |isbn=ISBN 0-13-146308-X |pages=246] cite journal |last=Lü |first=Junchang |coauthors=and Qiang Ji |year=2006 |title=Preliminary results of a phylogenetic analysis of the pterosaurs from western Liaoning and surrounding area |journal=Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=239–261 |url=http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/Lu&Ji_ptero_phylogeny.pdf |accessdate=2007-03-10 ] Ramphorhynchoids were the first pterosaurs to have appeared, in the late Triassic Period. Unlike their descendants the pterodactyloids, most rhamphorhynchoids had teeth and long tails, and most species lacked a bony crest, though several are known to have crests formed from soft tissue like keratin. They were generally small, and disappeared at the end of the Jurassic Period.

Classification

Taxonomy

Listing of families and superfamilies within the suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea, after Unwin 2006.
* Order Pterosauria
** Suborder Rhamphorhynchoidea *
*** "Preondactylus"
*** Family Dimorphodontidae
**** "Dimorphodon"
**** "Peteinosaurus"
*** Family Anurognathidae
*** Superfamily Campylognathoidea
**** Family Campylognathoididae
***** "Austriadactylus"
***** "Eudimorphodon"
***** "Campylognathoides"
*** Family Rhamphorhynchidae
**** Subfamily Rhamphorhynchinae
***** "Angustinaripterus"
***** "Dorygnathus"
***** "Nesodactylus"
***** "Rhamphocephalus"
***** "Rhamphorhynchus"
**** Subfamily Scaphognathinae
***** "Cacibupteryx"
***** "Harpactognathus"
***** "Pterorhynchus"
***** "Scaphognathus"
***** "Sordes"

* Rhamphorhynchoids of uncertain relationships ("incertae sedis")
** "Comodactylus"
** "Laopteryx"
** "Odontorhynchus"
** "Parapsicephalus"
** "Rhamphinion"

Phylogeny

Cladogram after Unwin (2003). For alternate cladograms, see List of pterosaur classifications. In phylogenetic taxonomy, "rhamphorhynchoids" consist of all basal (primitive) pterosaurs that do not belong to the clade Pterodactyloidea.

Pterosauria
-?"Comodactylus"
-?"Laopteryx"
-?"Odontorhynchus"
-?"Rhamphinion"
-?"Preondactylus" `--Macronychoptera
--Dimorphodontidae `--Caelidracones
--Anurognathidae `--Lonchognatha
--Campylognathoididae `--Breviquartossa
--Rhamphorhynchidae
|--Scaphognathinae
`--Rhamphorhynchinae `--Pterodactyloidea

References

* Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs." In Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., eds. "Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs". London: Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, 2003, pp. 139-190.