LAOPTERYX

Genus: Laopteryx Marsh, 1881 [nomen dubium]

Etymology: "fossil wing"

Type species: L. priscum

Other Species: none

Diagnosis: Non-diagnostic.

Classification: Pterosauria incertae sedis


Species: L. priscum Marsh, 1881 [nomen dubium]

Etymology: "it came first"

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, 341–342.

Ostrom, J. H. 1986 The Jurassic ‘bird’ Laopteryx priscus re-examined. Contrib. geol. Spec. Pap. 3, 11–19.


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