Ferrodraco: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Genus of reptilesanhanguerid (fossil)pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous}}

| fossil_range = [[Cenomanian]]-[[Turonian]], {{fossilrange|96|90}}

'''''Ferrodraco''''' ("Iron Dragon" after the [[ironstone]] the fossil was found in) is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of [[ornithocheiridanhanguerid]] [[pterosaur]] known from the [[Late Cretaceous]] [[Winton Formation]] of [[Queensland]], [[Australia]],<ref name="Pentland2019">{{Cite journal|lastlast1=Pentland|firstfirst1=Adele H.|last2=Poropat|first2=Stephen F.|last3=Tischler|first3=Travis R.|last4=Sloan|first4=Trish|last5=Elliott|first5=Robert A.|last6=Elliott|first6=Harry A.|last7=Elliott|first7=Judy A.|last8=Elliott|first8=David A.|date=December 2019|title=''Ferrodraco lentoni'' gen. et sp. nov., a new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Winton Formation (Cenomanian–lower Turonian) of Queensland, Australia|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=9|issue=1|pages=13454|doi=10.1038/s41598-019-49789-4|pmid=31582757|pmc=6776501|bibcode=2019NatSR...913454P |issn=2045-2322}}</ref> containing the single species '''''F. lentoni'''''. The species was named after the former mayor of [[Winton, Queensland|Winton]], [[Butch Lenton|Graham Thomas ‘Butch’ Lenton]]. It is the most complete pterosaur fossil from Australia, being known from the holotype specimen '''AODF 876''', consisting primarily of the anterior portion of the skull and dentary, cervical vertebral centra and a partial wing. Its wingspan was estimated to be about {{convert|4|m|ft|sp=us}}. ''Ferrodraco'' was found to have been within the subfamily [[Ornithocheirinae]], as sister taxon to ''[[Mythunga]]''. ItA isrecent study also recovered ''Ferrodraco'' as sister taxon to ''Mythunga'', but both placed within the latestfamily surviving[[Anhangueridae]], membermore ofspecifically within the subfamily [[Ornithocheiromorpha|AnhangueriaTropeognathinae]].

The [[holotype]] specimen was initially discovered in April 2017 when cattle farmer Robert A. Elliott was spraying herbicide near Belmont Station. It was excavated by a team leadled by Adele H. Pentland. Nicknamed 'Butch', it was further prepared by volunteer Ali Calvey. It was subsequently CAT scanned.<ref name="Pentland2019"/>

In 2019, the [[type species]] ''Ferrodraco lentoni'' was named and described by Adele H. Pentland, Stephen Francis Poropat, Travis R. Tischler, Trish Sloan, Robert A. Elliott, Harry A. Elliott, Judy A. Elliott and David A. Elliott.<ref name="Pentland2019" /> It was subsequently X-ray CT scanned at high-resolution using the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the [[Australian Synchrotron]] and [[osteology]] described in detail.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Pentland |first1=Adele H. |last2=Poropat |first2=Stephen F. |last3=White |first3=Matt A. |last4=Rigby |first4=Samantha L. |last5=Bevitt |first5=Joseph J. |last6=Duncan |first6=Ruairidh J. |last7=Sloan |first7=Trish |last8=Elliott |first8=Robert A. |last9=Elliott |first9=Harry A. |last10=Elliott |first10=Judy A. |last11=Elliott |first11=David A. |date=2022-03-30 |title=The osteology of Ferrodraco lentoni, an anhanguerid pterosaur from the mid-Cretaceous of Australia |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=e2038182 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2021.2038182 |issn=0272-4634|doi-access=free }}</ref> The generic name is derived from the [[Latin]] ''ferrum'', "iron", and ''draco'', "dragon", in reference to the fact that the skeleton was found in [[ironstone]]. The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] honors the late mayor of Winton Shire, Graham Thomas ‘Butch’ Lenton, for his work for the local community and his support for the [[Australian Age of Dinosaurs]]. He died in 2017.

The holotype, AODF 876, was found in a layer of the [[Winton Formation]] dating from the [[Cenomanian]] - lower [[Turonian]], about ninety-six million years old. It consists of a partial skeleton with skull and lower jaws. It contains the front part of the head with the premaxillae, the maxillae and the dentaries; the left [[frontal bone]], the rear part of the left lower jaw; forty single teeth; five neck vertebrae; the right shoulder joint; the left ulna; the left radius; the proximal and distal left wrist bones; two fourth metacarpals; phalanges from the first to third fingers of the left hand; and the first phalanx of the fourth finger. It represents a fully-grown but not yet mature animal. The skeleton has largely been preserved three-dimensionally due to the ironstone, but some bones however, have been crushed. It was probably fossilized in articulation but got some time prior to the discovery dispersed by erosion and cattle. ''Ferrodraco'' is the only pterosaur fossil known from the Winton Formation, and in 2019, it wasis the most complete pterosaur ever found in Australia, a continent where such finds are rare.<ref name="Pentland2019"/>

The describing authors indicated two [[autapomorphies]] (distinguishing traits) that ''Ferrodraco'' had. The first tooth pair in both the premaxillae of the snout and in the front lower jaws is smaller than the other front teeth. The fourth to seventh tooth pairs are smaller than the third and eighteighth pair.<ref name="Pentland2019"/>

''Ferrodraco'' was the youngest known member of the clade [[Anhangueria]], and proves that the clade did not become extinct during the [[Late Cretaceous]].<ref name="Pentland2019"/> In 2010 however, an ornithocheirid jaw fragment that includes two teeth (specimen WAM 68.5.11) had been reported from Australia, the same place where ''Ferrodraco'' was found, and this specimen was unearthed in the [[Molecap Greensand]], layers that possibly have an even younger age than ''Ferrodraco''.<ref>Kear, B.P., Deacon, G.L. & Siverson, M. 2010. "Remains of a Late Cretaceous pterosaur from the Molecap Greensand of Western Australia". ''Alcheringa'' '''34''': 273–279</ref>

The 2019 study of ''Ferrodraco'' made by Pentland ''et al.'' contained the results of two exact [[phylogenetic]] analyses, trying to determine the position of ''Ferrodraco'' in the evolutionary tree. The first analysis found ''Ferrodraco'' within the clade [[Ornithocheirae]], more precisely within the subfamily [[Ornithocheirinae]] as the [[sister species]] of ''[[Mythunga]]'', another Australian pterosaur from somewhat older layers. The second analysis placed ''Ferrodraco'' as a basal member of the Anhangueria, and sister taxon to the [[polytomy]] that comprises ''[[Anhanguera (pterosaur)|Anhanguera]]'', ''[[Coloborhynchus]]'' and ''[[Ornithocheirus]]''.<ref name="Pentland2019"/> A more recent study made in 2020 by Borja Holgado and Rodrigo Pêgas placed ''Ferrodraco'' within the family [[Anhangueridae]], more specifically within the subfamily [[Tropeognathinae]], although still the sister taxon to ''Mythunga''.<ref name="holgado2020">{{cite journal |last1=Holgado |first1=B. |last2=Pêgas |first2=R.V. |year=2020 |title=A taxonomic and phylogenetic review of the anhanguerid pterosaur group Coloborhynchinae and the new clade Tropeognathinae |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=65 |doi=10.4202/app.00751.2020|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2022, Pentland ''et al.'' published a detailed description of ''Ferrodraco'' (particularly the post-cranial skeleton) and a renewed phylogenetic appraisal that unequivocally demonstrated that it belongs in the family Anhangueridae as proposed by Holgado and Pêgas. This study suggested that the precise position of ''Ferrodraco'' and ''Mythunga'' within Anhangueridae still remains uncertain, and that the diversity of Australian pterosaur fauna has been greatly underestimated.<ref name=":0" /> In 2023, Richards ''et al''. published a revised diagnosis of the related ''[[Thapunngaka]]'', where they also erected the clade [[Mythungini]]. The clade comprises all Australian [[tropeognathine]]s, including ''Ferrodraco''.<ref name="Richards2023">{{cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Timothy |last2=Stumkat |first2=Paul |last3=Salisbury |first3=Steven |title=A second specimen of the pterosaur Thapunngaka shawi from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) Toolebuc Formation of North West Queensland, Australia |journal=Cretaceous Research |date=6 October 2023 |volume=154 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105740 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

'''Topology 1:''' First analysis by Pentland ''et al.''. (2019).

|label1=&nbsp;[[OrnithocheiridaeAnhangueria]]&nbsp;

|1={{clade''[[Brasileodactylus]]''

|12={{clade''[[Ludodactylus]]''

|1='''''Ferrodraco'''[[Liaoningopterus]]''

|31=''[[Ornithocheirus]]''

{{reflistReflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q69739391}}

[[Category:OrnithocheiroidsPteranodontoids]]