Parapsicephalus (beside arch head) is an extinct genus of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur that lived in the Early Jurassic period about 182 million years ago in what is now England. It was originally named as a species of Scaphognathus in 1888 before being moved to its own genus in 1919.
Description[]
The preserved part of the skull is about 14 centimeters long. In comparison to the related pterosaurs Scaphognathus, Dorygnathus and Jianchangnathus, which indicates that the full skull would be 18-19 centimeters long. It’s been speculated that its wingspan could be at about 1 meter in length.
Discovery and Naming[]
In the 1880s, the skull was collected at the Loftus Alum Shale Quarry. In 1888, Edwin Tulley Newton described it as a species of Scaphognathus. However, he did not include it in the type species due to differences in the skull. In 1919, Gustav von Arthaber noticed said differences and determined that these were enough to make it a new genus so he referred it to the genus Parapsicephalus.
Classification[]
Parapsicephalus was found to actually be more like Dimorphodon as opposed to its original counterpart, Scaphognathus. In 2013 Andres and Myers added it into the family Dimorphodontidae. Four years later in 2017, it was discovered that there was little to no evidence for it to be added in this group, and was placed in Rhamphorhynchinae.
Paleoecology[]
Parapsicephalus lived in the Whitby Mudstone Formation, alongside the ichthyosaurs Stenopterygius, Temnodontosaurus and Eurhinosaurus, the plesiosaurs Eretmosaurus, Sthenarosaurus and Microcleidus, the thalattosuchians Steneosaurus and Pelagosaurus, as well as unspecified theropods.