Isolated teeth of Anhangueria (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia

Title
Isolated teeth of Anhangueria (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia
Publication Date
2017
Author(s)
Brougham, Thomas
Smith, Elizabeth T
Bell, Phil
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5890-8183
Email: pbell23@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:pbell23
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
PeerJ, Ltd
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.7717/peerj.3256
UNE publication id
une:21185
Abstract
The fossil record of Australian pterosaurs is sparse, consisting of only a small number of isolated and fragmentary remains from the Cretaceous of Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Here, we describe two isolated pterosaur teeth from the Lower Cretaceous (middle Albian) Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge (New South Wales) and identify them as indeterminate members of the pterodactyloid clade Anhangueria. This represents the first formal description of pterosaur material from New South Wales. The presence of one or more anhanguerian pterosaurs at Lightning Ridge correlates with the presence of 'ornithocheirid' and 'Anhanguera'-like pterosaurs from the contemporaneous Toolebuc Formation of central Queensland and the global distribution attained by ornithocheiroids during the Early Cretaceous. The morphology of the teeth and their presence in the estuarine- and lacustrine-influenced Griman Creek Formation is likely indicative of similar life habits of the tooth bearer to other members of Anhangueria.
Link
Citation
PeerJ, v.5, p. 1-24
ISSN
2167-8359
Start page
1
End page
24

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