NORMANNOGNATHUS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

The new pterodactyloid pterosaur _Normannognathus wellnhoferi_ is 
described in...

BUFFETAUT, E., LEPAGE, J-J. and LEPAGE, G. 1998. A new pterodactyloid 
pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian of the Cap de la Heve (Normandy, 
France). _Geol. Mag._ 135: 719-22.

The specimen consists of the rostral left maxilla, premaxilla, and 
rostral fused dentaries. The length of the dentary symphasis 
indicates that the animal is a pterodactyloid. The animal has a very 
peculiar cranial crest of a new type not seen before in pterosaurs - 
a kind of dorsorostrally directed ?triangular plate with the same 
kind of fibrous texture as seen in germanodactylids and 
dsungaripterids. The authors suggest that this texture indicates 
covering by an integument. This crest and other features mean that 
the pterosaur is placed within Germanodactylidae, and affinities 
between this group and dsungaripterids are reinforced (as per Young 
(1964) and Wellnhofer (1978)).

The specimen is small (about 10 cm long), so the pterosaur would not 
have been a very big one. Dr. Buffetaut previously spoke about it at 
SVCPA (and Oliver Rauhut bought a plaster copy of it in the 
auction). 

"We're raptors - and don't YOU  forget it!"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk