Ctenochasmatids | |
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Ctenochasma elegans specimen from Solnhofen | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
Clade: | †Ctenochasmatoidea |
Family: | †Ctenochasmatidae Nopsca, 1928[1] |
Type species | |
†Ctenochasma roemeri Meyer, 1852
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Subgroups | |
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Ctenochasmatidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They are characterized by their distinctive teeth, which are thought to have been used for filter-feeding. Ctenochasmatids lived from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous periods.
The earliest known ctenochasmatid remains date to the Late Jurassic Kimmeridgian age. Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae,[4] though further examination suggested it actually belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur.[5]