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Genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Altmuehlopterus (meaning "Altmühl River wing") is a genus of pterosaur belonging to the Pterodactyloidea. It lived in the Late Jurassic of what is now Germany. It was formerly known as "Daitingopterus" (meaning "Daiting Wing"), a nomen nudum, informally coined in 2004.[1]
| Altmuehlopterus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Holotype fossil BSP AS.I.745 in Jura Museum Eichstätt | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Infraorder: | †Eupterodactyloidea |
| Genus: | †Altmuehlopterus Vidovic & Martill, 2017 |
| Species: | †A. rhamphastinus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Altmuehlopterus rhamphastinus (Wagner, 1851) | |
In 1851, Johann Andreas Wagner named a new species of Ornithocephalus (a now-obsolete name for the genus Pterodactylus), Ornithocephalus ramphastinus. The specific name referred to the toucan genus Ramphastos, in view of the large beak-like snout of the pterosaur.[2] In 1859/1860, Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer corrected the specific name to rhamphastinus.[3] Although this was incorrect by modern standards, the new spelling has become valid by being accepted and used by subsequent authors, under article ICZN 33.3.1.[4]
The holotype, BSP AS.I.745, was probably found at Mörnsheim near Daiting in a layer of the Malm Zeta 3, dating from the Tithonian. It consists of a partly articulated skeleton with skull, preserved on a plate and counterplate.
In 1871, Harry Govier Seeley included the specimen in the type material of Diopecephalus, without, however, designating it as the holotype of this genus.[5] For this reason, Peter Wellnhofer felt free to name the specimen as a second species of Germanodactylus in 1970: Germanodactylus rhamphastinus.[6] In 2004, Michael Maisch e.a. concluded that it represented a new genus, which they indicated as "Daitingopterus" in a diagram.[1] It remained a nomen nudum.[7]
In 2017, Steven Vidovic and David Martill validly named a separate genus Altmuehlopterus. The generic name combines a reference to the river Altmühl, running through Solnhofen, with a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing".[7]
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