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
The quadrate bone in German Pterodactyles, instead of being vertical
as in birds, stretches obliquely forward below the malar bone, so that
the articulation for the lower jaw is brought forward to be under the
middle of the orbit. In _Pterodactylus Kochi_ and in other species
there appears to be a process, or small separate triradiate bone,
comparable to a diminished lacertian post-frontal, and homologous
with the post-frontal process of the parrots. Its upper branch meets
the frontal. In some genera the front appears to meet the malar. The
lower branch goes to the front of the quadrate bone, and the backward
branch goes to the squamosal immediately above the articulation for
the quadrate bone. Thus it is a post-frontal bone resembling that
of the Iguana, but modified and adapted to a cranium like that of a
bird. Its form and size in the different genera are very variable. No
similar development is seen among mammals, where the post-frontals have
probably ceased to exist. It is a carious point of resemblance, but
from the other resemblances to Iguana being so few it is robbed of much
of its force as a mark of affinity, and becomes of interest chiefly as
an evidence of independent persistence of structures.
The pterygoid and palatine bones approximate to those of bird and
lizard in Pterodactylus crassirostris. And the bones in Pterodactylus
suevicus, which Quenstedt names vomera, should rather have been named
palatines. There is a bone in Goldfuss' specimen, between the malar and
palatine, which he identifies with the transverse bone, but it is not
seen in any other specimen.
The ribs sometimes appear to articulate by single heads, but in P.
crassirostris they are apparently articulated as in the Crocodile.
Some species show abdominal ribs like those of some reptiles; but the
segments of the mammalian sternum and abdominal ribs are to be regarded
as homologous structures. The vertebræ offer considerable variety in
size and shape, but the greatest variation in number is seen in the
tail, which is sometimes stiff and long, and sometimes short. The
pelvic bones show a large amount of variation in different genera,
often appearing to be crocodilian, sometimes lacertian, sometimes
mammalian. In the aim the humerus is variable in the length of the
radial crest, and the metacarpus also varies in length.
When the external similarity of the skeletons of birds is borne
in mind, it is impossible, without disregard of classification
altogether, to place animals differing so widely as do the different
Ornithosaurians in the few genera in which they are at present packed.
CLASSIFICATION.
The orders of Ornithosaurians may be established hereafter. Under the
name Pterosauria, Prof. Owen founded one order which has for its type
the Pterodactylus longirostris.
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