The Ornithosauria: An elementary study of the bones of Pterodactyles made from fossil remains found in the Cambridge Upper Greensand, and arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of CambridgeSeeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Science
The Ornithosauria: An elementary study of the bones of Pterodactyles made from fossil remains found in the Cambridge Upper Greensand, and arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge
Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Pterosauria
Thirteen specimens are mounted to exemplify the osteology of caudal
vertebræ. No. 7 has been figured by Prof. Owen in the memoir on
Pterodactylus simus, pl. 2 fig. 13-16. The centrum of the largest
specimens measures one inch and a quarter long, and the vertebra
is half an inch wide from side to side in the middle. The smallest
specimen No. 13 has the centrum 3/4 of an inch long. The vertebræ vary
in proportions, some being much more slender than others. They present
a close approximation in form to the first type of cervical vertebræ,
differing chiefly in being more elongated.
They are elongated bones constricted in the middle, so that the
outlines of the sides seen from above or below are gently concave;
the outline of the anterior end is sub-rhomboid, the outline of the
posterior end is sub-pentagonal, as would be a transverse section of
the vertebra. The long outlines of the base of the centrum and of the
top of the neural arch are sub-parallel.
The two sides of the upper surface of the neural arch are smooth,
flattened, a little concave from back to front; they are inclined to
each other pent-house wise at about a right angle, and are separated
throughout their length by a narrow slightly elevated neural spine.
Behind, the neural arch is truncated transversely so as to expose
the posterior neural surface of the centrum, which is convex from
side to side. The outermost lateral angles of the neural arch are the
posterior zygapophysial processes, short and strong above the centrum,
with a tubercle on the upper surface, and showing the sub-circular
zygapophysial facets behind; they look backward and downward, and
are separated by a groove from the region of the centrum. Under the
sharp ridge which connects these zygapophyses behind, the neural arch
is excavated, and the cup shows the termination of three canals. The
largest one is the upright oval of the neural canal in the middle,
on each of its sides separated by a narrow bony wall is another
perforation, very variable in size and shape, sometimes b& large as the
neural canal, but usually small and circular. The anterior end of the
neural arch is cut into, so that as seen from above, the straight sharp
anterior margins diverge mesially from each other at a right angle, and
so expose to view a small anterior part of the neural surface of the
centrum. These lines are prolonged forward and outward, to form the
upper margin of the anterior zygapophyses, which are compressed and
prolonged over and beyond the sides of the anterior articulation, from
which they are separated by a slight groove; the anterior and posterior
zygapophyses are connected by a rounded ridge. The anterior end of the
neural arch is excavated, but less so than the posterior end; in the
middle is the oval perforation of the neural canal, and at the sides
other perforations corresponding to those behind are placed a little
in advance of the neural canal. The anterior and posterior articular
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