re: Ornithocheirids resolved

[Unwin <h0662eka@rz.hu-berlin.de>]

Snappy Flappy Fans

<_Ornithocheirus_ has been described as the most tangled taxonomic 
mess of all archosaur taxa.>

Too right! It took me months to compile the synonymy list and I had a stack of 
filing cards a yard high. 

< Remarkably, within the space of a few 
weeks, it looks like most of the mess is going to be resolved - I've seen 
Dave Unwin's in press MS on the Cambridge Greensand pterosaurs and 
this sorts out a lot of the problems concerning the type material.>

Its out. Unwin, D. M. 2001. An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the 
Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England. Mitteilungen Museum für 
Naturkunde Berlin, Geowissenschaftlichen Reihe, 4, 189-221. 

Dave reaks havoc with his synonyschmeiser - more than 30 species reduced to 
just 10 - wahoo!

 
<Furthermore, Dave Martill and Dino Frey now have their new crested 
ornithocherid in press - again I have seen the MS and this provides 
some new intriguing resolution of the _Ornithocheirus_ problem. No 
doubt if Dave Unwin is reading this he will take umbridge...:)>


OK umbridge (umbridge? blimey, you spell worser than me), step over here. Dave 
and Dino's crested Crato critter doesn't acherly have any direct impact on the 
main Ornithocheirus problem. However, it does make things both clearer and more 
complex in terms of relationships within Ornithocheiroidea - but you will have 
to wait until at least next year to read the gory details on this.   


<Also, 
Michael Fastnacht has just published...

2001. First record of _Coloborhynchus_ (Pterosauria) from the 
Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Chapada do Araripe, 
Brazil. _Palaontologische Zeitschrift_ 75, 23-36.>

Absolutely bang on target!

<This describes a new large specimen which has a particularly vicious 
array of rostral teeth (we have a cast of it here at UOP - great fun to 
play with) which helps to sort out the _Criorhynchus_-
_Coloborhynchus_-_Tropeognathus_ situation. Some of this will be 
further resolved when the papers alluded to above come out.>

OK, try comparing Mike's fantastic Coloborhynchus robustus specimen with the 
same bits of 'Anhanguera piscator' as described by Kellner and Campos (2000). 
Interesting eh!

Right, I'm off to wrestle a well overdue 125 page MS into shape and bang 
another clip into the synonyschmeiser. Keep your heads down, I think I've 
figured out how the grenade launcher (takes out family level taxa from a 
distance) works...

Rat a tat tat

Dave


PS, re the earlier threads on pterosaur origins and tracks. They are on the 
list and I'll get around to commenting on them when I have more time - the 
German President is coming round today so things are a bit busy!   






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Email: david.unwin@rz.hu-berlin.de

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