Ornithocheirus

Ornithocheirus mesembrinus ( syn. Tropeognathus ), a short-tailed pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil ( Santana Formation).

• Europe
• South America ( Santana Formation in Brazil)
• Africa

Ornithocheirus ( from ancient Greek " ornis " and " cheiros " " bird hand " ) is a genus of short-tailed pterosaurs.

The first fossils were found in 1827 in the Wealden Formation in Sussex, England. It was all about jaw fragments, joint ends and individual vertebrae. Complete skeletons and skulls were missing.

From the collected amount of more than 1000 bones were 36 species, based on jaw fragments described. This taxon has long hosted the collective genus of fragmentary bones that could be attributed with certainty only the Ornithocheiridae family. But among them were also fossils that are now assigned to other families, such as the Azhdarchidenverwandte Lonchodectes and known only by the jaw fragments Pteranodontide Ornithostoma. Today there are two types of valid, O. mesembrinus and O. simus.

Features

The genus Ornithocheirus were medium to large pterosaurs with long, slender skulls. The wingspan ranges from 2.5 to 8.5 meters estimated.

Some species had a bony crest on its snout. The jaw edges were parallel, the pine cross-section was triangular. Your dentition consisted of the same type, short and stout teeth far ranged from the tip of the snout to the rear. The spacing of the teeth greater than the diameter of the teeth. Its surface was finely longitudinally ribbed, the cross section was round or oval. In the middle of the palate was a longitudinal keel, which summed up with a closed mouth in one of two beads limited channel in the lower jaw. Ornithocheirus among the largest pterosaurs his time.

Probably Ornithocheirus was a sail across the seas Fish -eaters, who had a lifestyle similar to that of today's albatross.