Ornithocheirus

Belongs within: Pterodactyloidea.

Ornithocheirus is a genus of pterosaur known from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian) that has historically been used for a number of poorly preserved taxa of uncertain affinities.

Characters (from Rodrigues & Kellner 2013, for the type species Ornithocheirus simus): Rostrum tall, not expanded anteriorly; first pair of premaxillary teeth directed ventrally; first pair of upper alveoli slightly displaced posteriorly from anterior margin of premaxilla; ventral margin of palate straight.

<==Ornithocheirus Seeley 1869RK13 (see below for synonymy)
    |--*O. simus (Owen 1861) (see below for synonymy)RK13
    |--O. brachyrhinus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Ptenodactylus brachyrhinus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. bunzeli Seeley 1881W91
    |--O. carteri Seeley 1870 (n. d.)RK13
    |--O. crassidens Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=*Amblydectes crassidens, Ptenodactylus crassidens Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. dentatus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Ptenodactylus dentatus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. denticulatus Seeley 1870RK13
    |--O. enchorhynchus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Ptenodactylus enchorhynchus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. eurygnathus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) (see below for synonymy)RK13
    |--O. hilsensis Koken 1885W91
    |--O. hlavatschiRK13
    |--O. huxleyi Seeley 1870RK13
    |--O. oxyrhinus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Ptenodactylus oxyrhinus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. platystomus Seeley 1870 (see below for synonymy)RK13
    |--O. scaphorhynchus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) (see below for synonymy)RK13
    |--O. tenuirostris Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Lonchodectes tenuirostris, Ptenodactylus tenuirostris Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]RK13
    |--O. wiedenrothi Wild 1990RK13
    `--O. xyphorhynchus Seeley 1870 (n. d.)RK13
Nomen nudum: Ptenodactylus macrorhinus Seeley 1869RK13

Ornithocheirus Seeley 1869^RK13 [=Criorhynchus Owen 1874^RK13, Ornithochirus (l. c.)^RK13; incl. Amblydectes Hooley 1914^RK13, Cretornis^W91, Ptenodactylus Seeley 1869 (n. n.) non Gray 1845^RK13]

Ornithocheirus eurygnathus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Amblydectes eurygnathus, Criorhynchus eurygnathus, Ptenodactylus eurygnathus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]^RK13

Ornithocheirus platystomus Seeley 1870 [=Amblydectes platystomus, A. platysomus (l. c.), Criorhynchus platystomus, Lonchodectes platystomus, Ornithocheirus platysomus (l. c.), Ptenodactylus platystomus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]^RK13

Ornithocheirus scaphorhynchus Seeley 1870 (n. d.) [=Lonchodectes scaphorhynchus, Ptenodactylus scaphorhynchus Seeley 1869 (n. n.)]^RK13

*Ornithocheirus simus (Owen 1861) [=Pterodactylus simus, *Criorhynchus simus, Ornithochirus (l. c.) simus; incl. Ornithocheirus platyrhinus Seeley 1870, Criorhynchus platyrhinus]^RK13

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[RK13] Rodrigues, T., & A. W. A. Kellner. 2013. Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England. ZooKeys 308: 1–112.

[W91] Wellnhofer, P. 1991. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. Salamander Books: London (reprinted in: Norman, D., & P. Wellnhofer. 2000. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Salamander Books).