Lower Cretaceous Period

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Bennettazhia oregonensis

 

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Bennettazhia (Azhdarchid in honour of Bennett) oregonensis (from Oregon)

Dorsal vertebra found in Wheeler County, Oregon and described in 1928 by C. W. Gilmore.  This specimen shows similarities with Nyctosaurus, but it is much larger.  Originally classified as Pteranodon oregonensis, this specimen was thought to represent a rather fragmentary collection of Azhdarchid bones (Bennett 1989). The specimen was re-classified as an Azhdarchid by Nessov in 1991.  Bennett has since considered this species to be a Dsungeripterid (1994).

Holotype: University of California, Museum of Paleontology, No. V.126713

Gilmore, C. W. 1928, A new Pterosaurian reptile from the marine Cretaceous of Oregon. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.73, art. 24, 1–5.

Bennett S. C. 1989, Pathologies of the large pterodactyloid pterosaurs Ornithocheirus and Pteranodon, Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 9:13A

Nesov, L. A. 1991, Gigantskiye lyetayushchiye yashchyeryi semyeistva Azhdarchidae. I. Morfologiya, sistematika. (Giant flying reptiles of the family Azhdarchidae: I. morphology and systematics) Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta. Seriya. 7; Geologiya, Geografiya (2), 14–23.

Bennett, S. C. 1994, Taxonomy and systematics of the Late Cretaceous pterosaur Pteranodon (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea). Occ. Pap. Nat. Hist. Mus. Univ. Kansas. 169.