Genus
Valid Extinct

Rhamphocephalus

Seeley 1880

Rhamphocephalus is an extinct genus of fossil reptile from the Middle Jurassic Cotswold Slate Formation of Gloucestershire, England. The name was erected as a genus of pterosaur and became a 'wastebasket taxon' for British Jurassic pterosaur remains until a recent revision. Rhamphocephalus comprises several named species, two of which are pterosaurian, but the type species - R. prestwichi - is based on remains now identified as a thalattosuchian. Because it is poorly preserved and lacks features that distinguish it from other thalattosuchians, R. prestwichi is considered an invalid species and the genus Rhamphocephalus is a nomen dubium. Reassessments of other Rhamphocephalus species suggest they are also undiagnostic to species level, although they have properties allowing referral to some Jurassic pterosaur groups.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
10
Group
Ptérosaures
Piscivore Volant Marine
Rhamphocephalus
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Personal photo of the type of Rhamphocephalus © MOS1985 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Pterosauria Order
Macronychoptera Unranked clade
Novialoidea Unranked clade
Breviquartossa Unranked clade
Rhamphorhynchidae Family
Rhamphorhynchinae Subfamily
Rhamphocephalus Genus
Fossil sites 10 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
10
Geological formations
Taynton Limestone
4
Cotswold Slate
2
Chipping Norton Limestone
1
Great Oolite
1
Sharp's Hill
1
Temporal distribution
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Bathonian (168.2–165.3 Ma)
9
Species (6)
Pterodactylus aclandi subjective synonym of Rhamphocephalus bucklandi 168 Ma
Pterodactylus duncani subjective synonym of Rhamphocephalus bucklandi 168 Ma
Pterodactylus kiddi subjective synonym of Rhamphocephalus bucklandi 168 Ma
Rhamphocephalus bucklandi 168 Ma
Rhamphocephalus depressirostris 168 Ma
Rhamphocephalus prestwichi nomen dubium, species not entered Rhamphocephalus
Synonyms (2)
Dolichorhamphus subjective synonym of Rhamphocephalus
Rhamphocephalus prestwichi nomen dubium, species not entered Rhamphocephalus
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
H. G. Seeley. 1880. On the Rhamphocephalus prestwichi, Seeley, an ornithosaurian from the Stonesfield Slate of Kineton. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 36:27-30 DOI ↗
Bibliography (6)
D. M. Unwin. 1996. The fossil record of Middle Jurassic pterosaurs. The Continental Jurassic, Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60:291-304
M. J. Benton and P. S. Spencer. 1995. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Chapman & Hall, London DOI ↗
S. E. Evans and A. R. Milner. 1994. Middle Jurassic microvertebrate assemblages from the British Isles. In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs: Early Mesozoic Tetrapods, N. C. Fraser and H.-D. Sues (eds.), Cambridge University Press
R. Owen. 1874. The fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Part 1. Pterosauria. Palaeontographical Society Monographs 27(126):1-14 DOI ↗
J. Phillips. 1871. Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. Clarendon Press, Oxford DOI ↗
T. H. Huxley. 1859. On Rhamphorhynchus bucklandi a new pterosaurian from the Stonesfield Slate. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 15:658-670 DOI ↗