Meet Iberodactylus.

Partial rostrum of Iberodactylus andreui. From Holgado et. al, 2019

Pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates. The group achieved high levels of morphologic and taxonomic diversity during the Mesozoic, with more than 200 species recognized so far. From the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, the evolution of pterosaurs resulted in a variety of eco-morphological adaptations, as evidenced by differences in skull shape, dentition, neck length, tail length and wing span. Because of the fragile nature of their skeletons the fossil record of pterosaurs is strongly biased towards marine and lacustrine depositional environments.

Pterosaurs have been divided into two major groups: “rhamphorhynchoids” and “pterodactyloids”. Rhamphorhynchoids are characterized by a long tail, and short neck and metacarpus. Pterodactyloids have a much larger body size range, an elongated neck and metacarpus, and a relatively short tail, and ruled the sky from the Late Jurassic to the End Cretaceous.

Comparison of the rostrum of Iberodactylus andreui with a cast of a skull of Hamipterus tianshanensis. From Holgado et al., 2019

The record of Iberian pterosaurs is scarce, but a new taxa from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain reveals an unexpected relationship with Hamipterus tianshanensis from the Lower Cretaceous of China. Iberodactylus andreui gen. et sp. nov., was recovered at Los Quiñones site, close to the village of Obón (Teruel, Spain), at the end of the 1980s by Javier Andreau. The holotype (MPZ-2014/1) consists of the anterior portion of the rostrum (~198 mm in length), and includes a partially preserved premaxillary crest, and a fragment of the maxillary bone with several fragmentary teeth. The specimen preserved its original 3D shape, although exhibits frequent fractured bones, that added to the eroded bone surfaces, reveal an external thing layer of cortical bone of 1.5 mm. The robustness and height of the premaxillary crest, suggest that MPZ-2014/1 may represent a male specimen.

The most striking feature of MPZ-2014/1 is the premaxillary crest. This crest exhibits well-developed elongated, sub-vertical striae and sulci, anteriorly curved, a combination that is quite similar to Hamipterus tianshanensis from the Berriasian-Albian of China. It was suggested that the sulci could be interpreted as a trait related to the attachment of the rhamphotheca, as in the case of some extant birds.

Origin and radiation of the clade Anhangueria during the Early Cretaceous. From Holgado et al., 2019

Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Hamipterus tianshanensis and Iberodactylus andreui gen. et sp. nov. form a monophyletic group, the Hamipteridae fam. nov., that falls within the Anhangueria, sharing with other anhanguerians the presence of a lateral expansion on the rostral tips. Anhanguerians has been recorded elsewhere in the Early Cretaceous of Europe, however Iberodactylus is not closely related to any known European anhanguerian, suggesting that the clade Anhangueria could have ancestral connections to eastern Laurasia.

Other tetrapod lineages are recorded in the Iberian Peninsula with close affinities to Asian faunas. Those lineages include titanosauriforms, crocodyliforms, enanthiornitean birds, and the gobiconodontid mammal Spinolestes xenarthrosus related to Gobiconodon and Repenomamus.

Reference:

Borja Holgado, Rodrigo V. Pêgas, José Ignacio Canudo, Josep Fortuny, Taissa Rodrigues, Julio Company & Alexander W.A. Kellner, 2019, “On a new crested pterodactyloid from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula and the radiation of the clade Anhangueria”, Scientific Reports 9: 4940

The mounting of the cast of Diplodocus carnegii at the Museo de La Plata.

Diplodocus carnegii at the Museo de La Plata, 1912 (From Otero and Gasparini, 2014).

Diplodocus is one of the most popular dinosaurs of all time. The first remains of a Diplodocus were found by Benjamin Mudge and Samuel Wendell Williston, in the Upper Jurassic outcrops of Cañon City, Colorado, United States, in 1877. One year later, Othniel Charles Marsh named the species Diplodocus longus on the basis of remains of the hind limb and tail. The name Diplodocus means ‘double beam’ in reference to the particular two-pronged morphology of the posterior hemal arches. D. carnegii, was discovered in 1899 during an expedition carried out by the Carnegie Museum to the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. John Bell Hatcher dedicated the new species of to Andrew Carnegie.

A sketch from the of Diplodocus carnegii, which Carnegie had framed and mounted on a wall at his castle in Scotland.

William Jacob Holland, director of the Carnegie Museum, sent a sketch of the skeleton of Diplodocus to Andrew Carnegie. At the time, the steel tycoon was at his Castle, Skibo, in Sutherland County, Scotland. The King Edward VII of England, saw the sketch and asked Carnegie to give him a specimen for the British Museum of Natural History in London. Holland proposed to Carnegie to make a life-sized replica of D. carnegii to be given to the British Museum of Natural History. On May 12, 1905, the long skeleton was unveiled to a crowd of 300 people, and became an instant star.

Mounting of the cast of Diplodocus carnegii at the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. Arthur Coggeshall and William Holland are second and third from left (Adapted from ‘Caras y Caretas’ magazine, 1912).

Nine replicas of D. carnegii were made and donated to kings and presidents of Europe and Latin America. On November of 1911, Argentinean president Dr. Roque Saenz Peña communicated to Andrew Carnegie his request to have a replica of D. carnegii. His request was accepted, and on July 1, 1912, 34 boxes containing the cast of the animal were sent to Argentina on the S.S. ‘Sallust’. William Holland and Mr. Arthur Coggeshall were in charge of mounting the replica. The site where the replica would be mounted in the Museo de La Plata, would be the Sala III, which was dedicated to invertebrates and plants. Holland insisted that the plans used for the mounting of D. carnegii at Vienna were followed in mounting the skeleton in La Plata. After the skeleton was mounted, the Director of the Museum, Dr. Samuel Lafone-Quevedo, gave a speech expressing his gratitude to Andrew Carnegie and his representatives, in which William Holland was designated an Honorary Member of La Plata University.

Reference:

Alejandro Otero and Zulma Gasparini “The History of the Cast Skeleton of Diplodocus carnegii Hatcher, 1901, at the Museo De La Plata, Argentina,” Annals of Carnegie Museum 82(3), (2014). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2992/007.082.0301

BARRETT, P., P. PARRY, AND S. CHAPMAN. 2010. Dippy: The Tale of a Museum Icon. Natural History Museum, London. 48 pp.