D. bucklandi is based on its holotype, a now lost[5] jaw from the Taynton Limestone Formation that was described as a species of Pterodactylus in 1832,[2] and the list of known specimens are: NHMUK PV R 28610, 32752, 37765, 38014, 38015, 38016, 38017, 38019, 38020, 38025, 40126, 47994, 47999a, 1028, 1029, 1030, 1824, 2637, 6749, 6750 (Steel 2012); OUM J.28275, J.28537, J.283043, which include limb elements that show no crossover with the holotype jaw.[5] The holotype jaw measured roughly 8.89 centimetres (3.50 in) in length and was given to Thomas Henry Huxley by Henry Reynolds-Moreton.[4]
D. depressirostris is based on its holotype, GSM 113723 (a mandible), and NHMUK PV R 40126 (isolated limb elements) and GSM 113723 has been damaged with the right ramus broken off and reattached.[5] The teeth of D. depressirostris reached up to 15 inches (38 cm) long and the elongate jaw, thin bone walls, the dental arrangement and smooth bone texture confirmed that it was a pterosaur.[5]
Classification
Both species of Dolicorhamphus were assigned to the wastebasket genus Rhamphocephalus, considered a "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur. However, the type species of Rhamphocephalus, R. prestwichii, was reinterpreted as a thalattosuchian by O'Sullivan and Martill on 2018, but "R." depressirostris and "R." bucklandii were clearly pterosaurian; the former was considered to be in the Scaphognathinae while the latter was only referred to a more general Rhamphorhynchidae.[6] Andres (2021) resurrected the genus Dolicorhamphus for the two, finding it to be a valid genus of pterosaurs closely related to Klobiodon, although he did not assign a type species.[7] This generic assignment has since been followed by other researchers.[8]
Gallery
Holotype jaw and tooth of D. bucklandii; from Geikie (1902[9])
Outdated reconstruction of D. bucklandii; from Geikie (1902[9])
References
^Seeley, H.G. (1885). Phillips' Manual of Geology 2nd edition. Vol. I. Charles Griffin & Company, London. p. 518.
^ abH. v. Meyer. (1832). Palaeologica zur Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Geschöpfe; Verlag von Siegmund Schmerber, Frankfurt am Main 1-560
^Lydekker, R. (1888). Catalogue of the fossil reptilia and amphibia in the
British Museum (Natural History) Part I: Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. 339 pp. Order of the Trustees, London.
^ abT. H. Huxley. (1859). On Rhamphorhynchus bucklandi, a new pterosaurian from the Stonesfield Slate. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 15:658-670.