Original paper
A review of the pterosaur Gnathosaurus subulatus from the Tithonian Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones of Germany: taxonomy and ontogeny
Bennett, S. Christopher
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 314 Heft 1 (2025), p. 93 - 114
57 references
published: Mar 31, 2025
published online: Mar 11, 2025
manuscript accepted: Feb 25, 2025
manuscript received: Dec 12, 2024
ArtNo. ESP155031401006, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
The pterosaur Gnathosaurus subulatus from the Tithonian Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones of southern Germany was long known only from a large fragmentary mandible with many long, slender teeth, and was variously thought to be a crocodilian, indeterminate sauropsid, or possible pterosaurian; however, the description of an isolated skull lacking mandible in 1970 demonstrated that Gnathosaurus was pterosaurian. In 1996, it was suggested that the 16 small specimens of Pterodactylus micronyx were conspecific with G. subulatus, and in 2013 P. micronyx was synonymized with a large headless specimen named Aurorazhdarcho primordius. However, it was thought that a large specimen with associated skull and postcranial materials would be needed to determine whether they were conspecific with G. subulatus. Despite that, here the skulls and dentitions of the largest juvenile P. micronyx are described and compared to the holotype mandible and referred skull of G. subulatus, and it is concluded that Pterodactylus micronyx and Aurorazhdarcho primordius are junior synonyms of Gnathosaurus subulatus, and that the species is known from 12 adult and juvenile specimens.
Keywords
Gnathosaurus • Pterosauria • Ctenochasmatidae • Solnhofen Archipelago • Upper Jurassic • Germany