Pterosaur Teeth from Kem Kem, an Update

[Sassy PaleoNerd]

Quite a while ago, I made a post talking about Kem Kem Pterosaurs, well since then I got more information, and new Information has been published. I specifically want to talk about Teeth.

 

Now, the only toothed Pterosaurs we are aware off in Kem Kem are Ornithocheiraens, the clade that includes Ornithocheirids (not in all Versions though), Targaryendraconids, Cimoliopterids, Anhanguerids and Hamipterids. All of these besides Hamipterids and Cimoliopterids are possibly present in Kem Kem.

 

So in my last post I claimed that the Teeth you can find should be labelled as Coloborhynchinae indet. based on the fact that Sirrocopteryx, and Coloborhynchus fluviferox are the only known Ornithicheiraens from Kem Kem, this was wrong. There are 5, or possibly 6 Taxa of Ornithocheiraen present in the Kem Kem Beds, I can only go into detail with 4. 

 

Sirrocopteryx: Now Sirrocopteryx is an interesting case, I have heard claims of it being an Anhanguerid, but as of now, I cant confidently say this to be true, so I will stay with the identification of it being a Coloborhynchine Ornithocheirid. Now, what Ornithocheirids have Teeth we can reference? Ferrodraco and Mythunga. (Image 1 in order) We can see roughly triangular very robust teeth in Mythunga, or rather long conical teeth that are still very robust. Image 2 is a Pterosaur Tooth which was sold on FossilEra, and it may most likely reflect Sirrocopteryx, but....

 

Coloborhynchus fluviferox: This is another Coloborhynchine from the Kem Kem Beds, it also is the largest Ornithocheiraen in Kem Kem, due to it's existence it's probably better to identify your Teeth of this Morphotype as Coloborhynchinae indet.

 

Anhangueridae: Wellnhofer and Buffetaut, 1999 describe a very interesting Pterosaur tooth, "The teeth of morphotype IV are very ro- bust, large and recurved. In cross-section the teeth are rounded lingually, but flattened labially. A carina is de- veloped only along the posterior edge. The enamel pat- tern varies, but, in general, appears to be similar to the pattern of the other morphotypes. The surface of the enamel is smooth. The flattened labial surface of the den- tine is slightly wrinkled. The rounded surface of the lingual side is sculptured by fine, parallel, longitudinal striae and wrinkles. The length of the teeth preserved ranges from 28 to 39 mm." (Image 3) Wellnhofer claims these Teeth could be tentatively reffered to Anhanguera, but Anhangueridae indet. is preffered here.

 

Targaryendraconidae: In (Pêgas et al. 2019) the Taxon Targaryendraco got described, which formed the basis of a new pterosaur family, Targaryendraconidae, in the same paper they describe "[...] are several isolated teeth that are elongate, striated, slightly recurved and elliptical in cross-section; including specimens from the Kem-Kem Beds, Cenomanian of Morocco" (Image 4)

 

This is it, till the other new Taxa get published I cant say anything more, but I hope this post was useful to some.

 

References: 

Rodrigo V. Pêgas, Borja Holgado & Maria Eduarda C. Leal (2019): On Targaryendracowiedenrothi gen. nov. (Pterodactyloidea, Pteranodontoidea, Lanceodontia) and recognition of a new cosmopolitan lineage of Cretaceous toothed pterodactyloids, Historical Biology, DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2019.1690482

 

Pterosaur remains from the Cretaceous of Morocco PETER WELLNHOFER, Mtinchen & ERIC BUFFETAUT, Paris

 

A new species of Coloborhynchus (Pterosauria, Ornithocheiridae) from the mid-Cretaceous of North Africa Megan L Jacobs, David M Martill, Nizar Ibrahim, Nick Longrich

[-Andy-]

Is Coloborhynchine currently a valid family name?

 

I have teeth over 2 inches long that perfectly fits your fig. 9. Earlier you said those are cf. Coloborhynchus fluviferox due to the size. I tried searching for Coloborhynchine indet. as an alternative but couldn't find any good info on that family

[Sassy PaleoNerd]

7 hours ago, -Andy- said:

Is Coloborhynchine currently a valid family name?

 

I have teeth over 2 inches long that perfectly fits your fig. 9. Earlier you said those are cf. Coloborhynchus fluviferox due to the size. I tried searching for Coloborhynchine indet. as an alternative but couldn't find any good info on that family

Coloborhynchinae is a subfamily that was named this year in the Publication of Iberodactylus, it includes Sirrocopteryx, Coloborhynchus and Uktenadactylus, so there is not much on it yet.

 

Fig. 9 is the Anhanguerid tooth.

[Troodon]

 

[-Andy-]

6 hours ago, Sassy PaleoNerd said:

Coloborhynchinae is a subfamily that was named this year in the Publication of Iberodactylus, it includes Sirrocopteryx, Coloborhynchus and Uktenadactylus, so there is not much on it yet.

 

Fig. 9 is the Anhanguerid tooth.

 

Thanks for the clarification about the subfamily name.

 

As for Fig. 9, doesn't it say below the picture that it's "?Ornithocheridae" ?

[Sassy PaleoNerd]

47 minutes ago, -Andy- said:

 

Thanks for the clarification about the subfamily name.

 

As for Fig. 9, doesn't it say below the picture that it's "?Ornithocheridae" ?

The paper is from 1999, the distinction between Ornithocheiridae and Anhangueridae hasnt been made yet.

[Troodon]

Any idea about the timing with the publication of the new taxons

[Sassy PaleoNerd]

57 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Any idea about the timing with the publication of the new taxons

Nope, sadly not. Atleast one has had an abstract at SVPCA published.