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Using taphonomy to infer differences in soft tissues between taxa: an example using basal and derived forms of Solnhofen pterosaurs

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Abstract

In fossilised vertebrates, the presence of soft tissues is the most obvious way to determine aspects of anatomy and functional morphology; however, occurrences are rare and other lines of evidence must be sought to indicate its extent and strength. For example, pterosaurs possessed a large wing membrane that enabled powered flight but other tissues are not widely preserved. A semi-quantitative analysis comparing skeletal articulation and completeness of the pterodactyloid Pterodactylus and non-pterodactyloid pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus from Solnhofen-type deposits implies there were anatomical differences between soft-tissue structure and attachments articulating skeletal joints of each. Typically, skeletons of Pterodactylus disarticulate to a greater extent than those of Rhamphorhynchus, which in turn suggests decay progressed to more advanced states in the former. However, this generalisation masks a mosaic of differences between different body parts, for example Rhamphorhynchus tends to lose the wings as complete units but retains a complete and still articulated tail in a greater number of specimens than Pterodactylus.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank various people for access to specimens: Makoto Manabe (Museum of Nature, Tokyo), Martin Röper (Burgermeister-Mueller Museum, Solnhofen), Matt Lamanna (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), Lorna Steel (Natural History Museum, London), Markus Möser (Bavarian State Collection of Palaeontology, Munich), Daniela Schwartz (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin), Martina Kölbl-Eber (Jura Museum, Eischtätt) and Dino Frey (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe). Four anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their comments on the manuscript. We also thank Patrick Orr (University College, Dublin) for additional supervision of the student research project (undertaken by EL), which became the basis of this manuscript, and subsequent comments on the topic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Elgin Museum, 1 High Street, Elgin, Moray, IV30 1EQ, UK

    S.R. Beardmore

  2. UCD School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield Campus, Dublin 4, Ireland

    S.R. Beardmore & E. Lawlor

  3. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

    D.W.E. Hone

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  1. S.R. Beardmore
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  2. E. Lawlor
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  3. D.W.E. Hone
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Correspondence to S.R. Beardmore.

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Communicated by: Robert Reisz

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

Dataset for the 58 Rhamphorynchus specimens. ‘R’ numbers are those given to specimens by EL during initial data collection for an undergraduate study, correlated to Wellnhofer numbers where applicable, and expanded/amended for the study herein. Scores are shown for articulation (A) and completeness (C) for each of the nine units, the total of these and the converted percentage value used in the percentage plots (PDF 14 kb)

ESM 2

Dataset for the 29 Pterodactylus specimens. ‘P’ numbers are those given to specimens by EL during initial data collection for an undergraduate study, correlated to Wellnhofer numbers where applicable, and expanded/amended for the study herein. Layout as given for ESM 1 (PDF 12 kb)

ESM 3

Classification system used to assign scores of articulation and completeness for each of the nine anatomical units designated. Tables are for the head, neck, dorsal vertebrae, tail, ribs, front limbs (× 2) and back limbs (× 2) (PDF 685 kb)

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Beardmore, S., Lawlor, E. & Hone, D. Using taphonomy to infer differences in soft tissues between taxa: an example using basal and derived forms of Solnhofen pterosaurs. Sci Nat 104, 65 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1486-0

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