First occurrence of ornithocheirid pterosaur teeth in the Dmitrov Formation (Santonian) of Ryazan Oblast, Russia

The extinct shark, Ptychodus (Elasmobranchii, Ptychodontidae) in the Upper Cretaceous of central-western Russia—The road to easternmost peri-Tethyan seas

“…Cretaceous rocks do not contain body fossils with the exception of a layer of coarsegrained sand in the upper part of this unit (0.1-0.6 m). Its paleontological content mainly includes vertebrate remains consisting of numerous elasmobranch and actinopterygian teeth, rare vertebrae as well as extremely rare teeth of marine reptiles (plesiosaurians, ichthyosaurians, mosasaurians) and pterosaurs (see also Solonin et al, 2021aSolonin et al, , 2021b. In the same layer, rare fragmentary remains of the bivalves (e.g., Neithea and pectenids), sponges, bryozoans, calcareous algae, and fragments of ichnofossil burrows were documented (see also Solonin et al, 2021aSolonin et al, , 2021b.…”

“…Its paleontological content mainly includes vertebrate remains consisting of numerous elasmobranch and actinopterygian teeth, rare vertebrae as well as extremely rare teeth of marine reptiles (plesiosaurians, ichthyosaurians, mosasaurians) and pterosaurs (see also Solonin et al, 2021aSolonin et al, , 2021b. In the same layer, rare fragmentary remains of the bivalves (e.g., Neithea and pectenids), sponges, bryozoans, calcareous algae, and fragments of ichnofossil burrows were documented (see also Solonin et al, 2021aSolonin et al, , 2021b. This fossiliferous layer also differs from underlying and overlying sand layers in larger grain diameters and the presence of phosphatic pebbles of sandstones and large siliceous sandstone concretions.…”

First occurrence of pterosaurs in Ukraine from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) Burim Formation, Kaniv Natural Reserve

“…Despite their fragmentary nature, these findings are important as they represent the first known occurrence of pterosaurs on the territory of Ukraine and first described pterosaur teeth from the Albian of Eastern Europe. Due to poor preservation of NNPM2588-62-65 and heterodont dentition of Cretaceous pterosaurs (Solonin et al, 2021), it is uncertain whether the figured specimens represent one or more distinct taxa without additional skeletal material. No valid species were previously erected based on material from the Albian deposits of Eastern Europe.…”

“…Anhanguerian pterosaurs exhibit heterodont dentition relative to other pterosaurs, as evidenced by the dentition of Ludodactylus sibbicki (Frey et al, 2003;Solonin et al, 2021), various Anhanguera species (Pinheiro & Rodrigues, 2017), and Liaoningopterus gui (Wang & Zhou, 2003). Typically, two tooth morphologies are present (Solonin et al, 2021): more rostrally positioned elongated, distally curved, strongly sigmoid teeth Sokolskyi-First pterosaurs from Ukraine (e2238000-2) with pronounced enamel ornamentation (similar to NNPM2588-64) and posterior, more robust, and triangular teeth that may also bear carinae and lack ornamentation (similar to NNPM2588-62, 63). The observed heterodonty precludes taxonomic assignment of isolated anhanguerian teeth beyond the Anhangueria clade, as many members of this group are known exclusively from anterior parts of the skull, e.g., Mythunga camara or Ferrodraco lentoni .…”

“…Relatively large, elongated teeth from the Early Cretaceous with labiolingual compression, sigmoid profile, slight distal curvature, and enamel ornamentation consisting of longitudinal grooves, similar to the Kaniv specimens are usually identified as either Ornithocheiridae or Anhangueria/Anhangueridae in the literature, depending on the preferred taxonomic hypothesis distinguishing these clades (Brougham et al, 2017; Rodrigues & Kellner, 2013). Such dental morphology is attributed to Ornithocheiridae in isolated pterosaur teeth from the Barremian of England (Sweetman & Martill, 2010), Albian–Cenomanian of Morocco and Tunisia (Benton et al, 2000; Wellnhofer & Buffetaut, 1999), and Russia (Solonin et al, 2021). Whereas studies describing specimens from the Albian of Brazil (Elias et al, 2007) and Australia (Brougham et al, 2017) assign similar teeth to Anhangueridae or Anhangueria.…”