Anurognathus

Taxobox
name = "Anurognathus"
fossil_range = Late Jurassic

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image_caption = "Anurognathus ammoni", hunting the Jurassic lacewing "Kalligramma haeckeli".
image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Rhamphorhynchoidea
familia = Anurognathidae
genus = "Anurognathus"
genus_authority = Döderline, 1923
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "A. ammoni" Döderline, 1923 (type)

"Anurognathus" is a genus of small pterosaur that lived approximately 155-140 million years ago during the late Jurassic Period (Tithonian stage). It had a short head with pin-like teeth for catching insects and although it traditionally is ascribed to the long tailed pterosaur group (Rhamphorhynchoidea), its tail was comparatively short, allowing it more maneuverability for hunting.cite book |last=Unwin |first=David M. |title=The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time |year=2006 |publisher=Pi Press |location=New York |isbn=ISBN 0-13-146308-X |pages=246] With a wingspan of 50 cm (20 inches) and a 9 cm long body (skull included), it probably weighed no more than a few grams. Only two skeletons have been found, in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria. "Anurognathus" was first named and described by L. Döderlein in 1923.Döderlein, L. (1923). "Anurognathus ammoni" ein neuer Flugsaurier." "Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Abteilung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Munchen", 1923, 117-164.]

The genus name "Anurognathus" is derived from the Greek "αν"/"an-" ("without"), "оυρα"/"oura" ("tail"), and "γναθος"/"gnathos" ("jaw") in reference to its unusually small tail relative to other rhamphorhynchoids pterosaurs. The species name "A. ammoni" honours the Bavarian geologist Ludwig von Ammon. "Anurognathus" was a member of the family or clade Anurognathidae.

In popular culture

"Anurognathus" was featured in the second episode of the British documentary series "Walking with Dinosaurs". It was shown having a mutual symbiotic relationship with the dinosaur "Diplodocus", eating parasitic insects off its skin. This symbiosis (though purely hypothetical) is very similar to the modern day tick bird.

"Anurognathus" was later featured in the fifth episode of the ITV science fiction television series "Primeval". Here, "Anurognathus" was erroneously portrayed as living in the Late Cretaceous period, 85 million years ago, with behavior akin to a piranha. The producers of the program portrayed "Anurognathus" as having an amazingly keen sense of smell, able to detect blood from hundreds of feet away. A flock was depicted stripping the flesh from a carcass in a matter of minutes, behavior at odds with anatomical evidence that shows this species to have been insectivores akin to the modern Frogmouth. These changes were made for dramatic effect.cite web| last = Milne | first = Mike | url = http://www.framestore-cfc.com/television/primeval/index.html| title = Primeval sees Framestore CFC's Creatures Leap into the 21st Century]

References