 |
| Spathagnathus roeperi Fernandes, Tischlinger, Rothgaenger & Rauhut, 2025 Artistic reconstruction by Alessio Ciaffi |
Abstract
The so-called “Solnhofen limestones” of southern Germany are widely recognized for their abundance of Late Jurassic fossil vertebrates, with pterosaurs being no exception. Within the recognized plenitude of the pterosaurs within this assemblage, although ctenochasmatid remains are relatively abundant, gnathosaurines are scarce, with only one known Solnhofen representative of the group known thus far. The Late Kimmeridgian locality of Brunn (near Regensburg, Germany) represents the oldest locality of the Solnhofen complex (“Solnhofen Archipelago” in recent literature), with only one pterosaur having been described from this locality to date. Here, a second pterosaur taxon from within this locality and a new gnathosaur is introduced, Spathagnathus roeperi gen. et sp. nov., whose novel tooth and dental enamel features add to the known dental diversity for the group. The new taxon represents the oldest occurrence of a gnathosaurine and contributes to the paleoenvironmental stratigraphic range for the Gnathosaurinae within the overall fossil assemblage of the Solnhofen Archipelago. Furthermore, the new taxon adds to the known diversity of ctenochasmatids in the Late Jurassic and underlines the importance of this early radiation of pterodactyloid pterosaurs during this time.
Keywords: Pterosauria, Gnathosaurinae, Mesozoic, Jurassic, Germany, Solnhofen Archipelago
 |
| SNSB-BSPG 1993 XVIII 1006 Spathagnathus roeperi gen. et sp. nov. photographed under normal light (A) and UV light (B). Scale bar represents: 10 mm |
Systematic paleontology
Order PTEROSAURIA Owen, 1842
Suborder PTERODACTYLOIDEA Plieninger, 1901
Family CTENOCHASMATIDAE Nopcsa, 1928 sensu Unwin, 2003
Subfamily GNATHOSAURINAE Nopcsa, 1928 sensu Unwin, 2002
Genus Spathagnathus gen. nov.
Spathagnathus roeperi gen. et sp. nov.
Diagnosis (autapomorphies indicated with asterisk). dorsoventrally compressed rostrum with lateral spatulate expansion on the anterior end of the premaxilla, laterally directed musiform teeth, tooth girth increasing from anterior to posterior end of the rostrum, dental enamel coating approximately half of tooth crowns, strongly veined enamel texture on tooth surface, presence of carinae.
Etymology. From the Latin “spatha” for “spatula”, and “gnath” for “jaw”; “roeperi” in honor of the late Martin Röper, long term director of the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen and leader of the excavations at the locality Brunn since the early 1990’s.
 |
| Artistic reconstruction of Spathagnathus roeperi by Alessio Ciaffi |
Alexandra E. Fernandes, Helmut Tischlinger, Monika Rothgaenger and Oliver W. M. Rauhut. 2025. A New Species and the earliest Occurrence of the Gnathosaurinae (Pterosauria) from the Late Kimmeridgian of Brunn, Germany. PalZ. DOI: doi.org/10.1007/s12542-025-00725-0 [06 June 2025]
