Ctenochasma

Fossil specimen of Ctenochasma elegans.(*)

Ctenochasma
Fossil range: Late Jurassic

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Family: Ctenochasmatidae
Genus: Ctenochasma
Species
  • C. roemeri
  • C. elegans
  • C. taqueti

Ctenochasma is an extinct genus of Late Jurassic pterosaur belonging to the suborder pterodactyloidea. Three species, C. roemeri, C. taqueti, and C. elegans (formerly Pterodactylus elegans) have been identified from specimens found in France and Germany. The smallest species, Ctenochasma elegans, had a wingspan of only about 25 cm. Ctenochasma is distinguished by its mouth which contained as many as 260 comb-like teeth with which it used to filter food. Ctenochasma lacked a bony crest.

References

* Bennett, S. Christopher. (2007). "A review of the pterosaur Ctenochasma: taxonomy and ontogeny." Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, 245(1): 23-31.
* Stéphane, J., (2004). "Description of the skull of a Ctenochasma (Pterosauria) from the latest Jurassic of eastern France, with a taxonomic revision of European Tithonian Pterodactyloidea." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(3): 542-554.




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