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LAOPTERYX
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Genus: Laopteryx Marsh, 1881 [nomen dubium]
Etymology: "fossil wing"
Type species: L. priscum
Other Species: none
Diagnosis: Non-diagnostic.
Classification: Pterosauria incertae sedis
Holotype: YPM 1800 Posterior part of the skull and braincase and an associated tooth.
Referred Specimens: none
Time: Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Horizon: Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation
Location: Como Bluff, Wyoming, USA
Skull length: ?
Total length: ?
Wingspan: ?
Mass: ?
Diagnosis: Non-diagnostic.
Comments: Assigned to pterosauria on the basis of: "non avian relative sizes of the foramen magnum and the occipital condyle; hemispherical form of the condyle; [..] all cranial features [noted by Marsh, 1881] are not solely avian; and the associated tooth is [...] probably referable to the crocodilia." (Ostrom, 1986)
References:
Marsh, O. C. 1881 Discovery of a fossil bird in the Jurassic of Wyoming. Am. J. Sci. (3) 21, 341342.
Ostrom, J. H. 1986 The Jurassic ‘bird’ Laopteryx priscus re-examined. Contrib. geol. Spec. Pap. 3, 1119.
©2006 Mike Hanson | Logo ©2004-2006 John Conway