Genus
Valid Extinct

Lonchodectes

Hooley 1914

Lonchodectes is a genus of lonchodectid pterosaur from several formations dating to the Turonian of England, mostly in the area around Kent. The species belonging to it had been assigned to Ornithocheirus until David Unwin's work of the 1990s and 2000s. Several potential species are known; most are based on scrappy remains, and have gone through several other generic assignments. The genus is part of the complex taxonomy issues surrounding Early Cretaceous pterosaurs from Brazil and England, such as Amblydectes, Anhanguera, Coloborhynchus, and Ornithocheirus.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
9
Group
Ptérosaures
Piscivore Volant Marine
Lonchodectes
click to enlarge
Pterodactylus compressirostris, holotype NHMUK PV 39410 (Cenomanian / Turonian, Chalk Formation). A–D proposed lectotype, fragment of the mandibular symphysis A left lateral view B respective line drawing C dorsal view D respective line drawing. E–H referred specimen, portion of the rostrum E left lateral view F respective line drawing G ventral view H respective line drawing. Abbreviations: ch – choanae, d – dentary, m – maxillae, naof – nasoantorbital fenestra, pl – palatine, pm – premaxillae, prid – palatal ridge, sul– sulcus. Arrows indicate alveoli or teeth. Scale bar = 10 mm. Photos courtesy of The Natural History Museum. © Taissa Rodrigues and Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Pterosauria Order
›
Pterodactyloidea Suborder
›
Pteranodontia Unranked clade
›
Ornithocheiroidea Superfamily
›
Lonchodectes Genus
Fossil sites 9 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
8
🇷🇺 Russia
1
Geological formations
West Melbury Marly Chalk
6
Gault
1
Melovatka
1
Temporal distribution
Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)
2
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
7
Species (7)
Lonchodectes compressirostris 101 Ma
Lonchodectes machaerorhynchus 106 Ma
Lonchodectes microdon 106 Ma
Lonchodectes platystomus 113 Ma
Ornithocheirus huxleyi subjective synonym of Lonchodectes microdon 106 Ma
Ornithocheirus oweni subjective synonym of Lonchodectes microdon 106 Ma
Pterodactylus daviesii subjective synonym of Lonchodectes platystomus 113 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
R. W. Hooley. 1914. On the ornithosaurian genus Ornithocheirus, with a review of the specimens of the Cambridge Greensand in the Sedgwick Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8:529-557 DOI ↗
Bibliography (6)
T. Rodrigues and A. W. A. Kellner. 2013. Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England. ZooKeys 308:1-112 DOI ↗
A. O. Averianov and E. N. Kurochkin. 2010. A new pterosaurian record from the Cenomanian of the Volga Region. Paleontological Journal 44(6):695-697 DOI ↗
K. P. Oakley. 1947. Fossil and sub-fossil vertebrates. Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society 22(5):239-246
R. Owen. 1874. The fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Part 1. Pterosauria. Palaeontographical Society Monographs 27(126):1-14 DOI ↗
H. G. Seeley. 1870. 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, Deighton, Bell & Co, Cambridge DOI ↗
R. Owen. 1851. Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Cretaceous Formations. Part I. Chelonia (Lacertilia, etc.). The Palaeontographical Society, London 1851:1-118 DOI ↗