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      A giant specimen of Rhamphorhynchus muensteri and comments on the ontogeny of rhamphorhynchines

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      PeerJ
      PeerJ Inc.
      Rhamphorhynchinae, Ontogeny, Pterosauria, ‘rhamphorhynchoid’, Solnhofen

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          Abstract

          Rhamphorhynchus is one of the best-known pterosaurs, with well over 100 specimens being held in public collections. Most of these represent juvenile animals, and the adults known are typically around 1 m in wingspan. Here we describe a near complete skeleton, preserved partially in 3D, of an animal with a wingspan of around 1.8 m, that is considerably larger than other known specimens, and is among the largest known non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs. This animal shows differences in the anatomy not seen in smaller specimens, revealing details of late-stage ontogeny in this genus. The specimen exhibits a disproportionate reduction in the size of the orbit and increase in the size of the lower temporal fenestra, a reduction in the proportional mandibular symphysis, and unusually laterally flattened teeth, which may point to a changing diet as these animals grew. These features show a transition from smaller to larger specimens of Rhamphorhynchus and also appear in other large specimens of rhamphorhyhchines and point to a consistent pattern in their development.

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          Most cited references61

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          Neuroanatomy of flying reptiles and implications for flight, posture and behaviour.

          Comparison of birds and pterosaurs, the two archosaurian flyers, sheds light on adaptation to an aerial lifestyle. The neurological basis of control holds particular interest in that flight demands on sensory integration, equilibrium, and muscular coordination are acute. Here we compare the brain and vestibular apparatus in two pterosaurs based on high-resolution computed tomographic (CT) scans from which we constructed digital endocasts. Although general neural organization resembles birds, pterosaurs had smaller brains relative to body mass than do birds. This difference probably has more to do with phylogeny than flight, in that birds evolved from nonavian theropods that had already established trends for greater encephalization. Orientation of the osseous labyrinth relative to the long axis of the skull was different in these two pterosaur species, suggesting very different head postures and reflecting differing behaviours. Their enlarged semicircular canals reflect a highly refined organ of equilibrium, which is concordant with pterosaurs being visually based, aerial predators. Their enormous cerebellar floccular lobes may suggest neural integration of extensive sensory information from the wing, further enhancing eye- and neck-based reflex mechanisms for stabilizing gaze.
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            International code of zoological nomenclature = Code international de nomenclature zoologique /

            W. RIDE (1999)
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              Assessing ontogenetic maturity in extinct saurian reptiles

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                PeerJ
                PeerJ
                peerj
                PeerJ
                PeerJ Inc. (San Diego, USA )
                2167-8359
                2 January 2025
                2025
                : 13
                : e18587
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London , London, United Kingdom
                [2 ]Rye, NY, United States of America
                Article
                18587
                10.7717/peerj.18587
                11700493
                39763697
                7a2e7c23-ca34-43b9-8935-ec66946636d5
                ©2025 Hone and McDavid

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.

                History
                : 19 June 2024
                : 4 November 2024
                Funding
                The authors received no funding for this work.
                Categories
                Ecology
                Paleontology
                Taxonomy

                rhamphorhynchinae,ontogeny,pterosauria,‘rhamphorhynchoid’,solnhofen

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