Anhangueridae
Anhangueridae (alternatively called Ornithocheiridae, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 90 million years ago.
Article
16 sectionsContents
- History
- Naming
- Description
- Skull
- Postcranial skeleton
- Classification
- Formerly assigned genera
- Phylogeny
- Paleobiology
- Diet and feeding
- Locomotion and flight
- Paleoecology
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Anhangueridae (alternatively called Ornithocheiridae, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 90 million years ago.
Anhanguerids are generally infamous for having an enormously controversial and very confusing taxonomy. Although agreements that these animals were related, and therefore similar to istiodactylids and pteranodontians, there is still no virtual consensus over the exact content and interrelationships of this group. Anhanguerids were the most successful pterosaurs during their reign, and were also the largest pterosaurs before the appearance of the azhdarchids such as Quetzalcoatlus. Anhanguerids were excellent fish hunters, using various flight techniques to catch their prey, and were also capable of flying great distances without flapping constantly.