Arambourgiania
Encyclopedia
Arambourgiania is a pterosaur
from the Late Cretaceous
(Maastrichtian
) of Jordan
. It was one of the largest members of this group.
In the early forties, a railway worker during repairs on the Amman
-Damascus
railroad near Russeifa
found a two feet long fossil bone. In 1943 this was acquired by the director of a nearby phosphate
mine, Amin Kawar, who after the war brought it to the attention of a British archeologist, Fielding. This generated some publicity, the bone being shown to Abdullah I of Jordan
and made the scientific community aware of the find.
In 1953 the fossil was sent to Paris
, where it was examined by Camille Arambourg
of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
. He in 1954 concluded the bone was the wing metacarpal of a giant pterosaur. In 1959 he named a new genus and species: Titanopteryx philadelphiae. The genus name meant "titan wing" in Greek; the specific name refers to the name of Amman in Antiquity
: Philadelphia. Arambourg let a plaster cast be made and then sent the fossil back to the phosphate mine; this last aspect was later forgotten and the bone assumed lost.
In 1975 Douglas A. Lawson
, studying the related Quetzalcoatlus
, concluded the bone was not a metacarpal but a cervical vertebra.
In the eighties Russian paleontologist Lev Nesov was informed by an entomologist that the name Titanopteryx had already in 1934 been given by Günther Enderlein
to a fly from the Simulidae and had thus been preoccupied in relation to the pterosaur. Therefore in 1987 he renamed the genus into Arambourgiania, honouring Arambourg. However, the name "Titanopteryx" was informally kept in use in the West, also because it was by many assumed the name was a nomen dubium
anyway.
Early 1995, paleontologists David Martill and Eberhard Frey travelled to Jordan in an attempt to clarify matters. In a cupboard of the office of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company they discovered some other pterosaur bones: a smaller vertebra and the proximal and distal extremities of a wing phalanx — but not the original find. However, after their departure to Europe engineer Rashdie Sadaqah of the mine investigated further and in 1996 established it had been bought from the company in 1969 by geologist Hani N. Khoury who had donated it in 1973 to the University of Jordan
; it was still present in the collection of this institute and now could be restudied by Martill and Frey.
The holotype
, VF 1, consists of a very elongated cervical vertebra, probably the fifth. Today the middle section is missing; the original find was about 62 centimetres long, but had been sawed into three parts. Most of the fossil consists of an internal infilling or mould; the thin bone walls are missing on most of the surface. The find had not presented the whole vertebra; from its posterior end a piece also was absent. Frey and Martill estimated the total length to have been 78 centimetres, using for comparison the relative position of the smallest shaft diameter of the fifth cervical vertebra of Quetzalcoatlus. From this again the total neck length was extrapolated at about three metres. From the relatively slender vertebra the length dimension was then selected to be compared to that of Quetzalcoatlus, estimated at 66 centimeters long, resulting in a ratio of 1.18. Applying that ratio to the overall size, Frey and Martill in 1998 concluded that the wingspan of Arambourgiania had been twelve to thirteen metres, compared with the ten to eleven metres of Quetzalcoatlus, and that Arambourgiania was thus the largest pterosaur then known. Later estimates have been more moderate, sometimes as low as seven metres.
Frey and Martill rejected the suggestion that Arambourgiania was a nomen dubium or identical to Quetzalcoatlus and affirmed its validity in relation to "Titanopteryx".
Nesov in 1984 had placed the species within Azhdarchinae, part of the Pteranodontidae
; the same year Kevin Padian
placed it within Titanopterygidae. Both concepts have fallen into disuse now that such forms are commonly assigned to the Azhdarchidae
.
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
from the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
(Maastrichtian
Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the latest age or upper stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned from 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma...
) of Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. It was one of the largest members of this group.
In the early forties, a railway worker during repairs on the Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
-Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
railroad near Russeifa
Russeifa
Russeifa, also spelled Russiefa, , making it the forth largest city in Jordan, after Amman, Irbid, and Zarqa.-Geography:The city of Russeifa is located in the Central region of Jordan, in the Zarqa River basin, on the Amman-Zarqa highway...
found a two feet long fossil bone. In 1943 this was acquired by the director of a nearby phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
mine, Amin Kawar, who after the war brought it to the attention of a British archeologist, Fielding. This generated some publicity, the bone being shown to Abdullah I of Jordan
Abdullah I of Jordan
Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan [‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn] عبد الله الأول بن الحسين born in Mecca, Second Saudi State, was the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah...
and made the scientific community aware of the find.
In 1953 the fossil was sent to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where it was examined by Camille Arambourg
Camille Arambourg
Camille Arambourg was a French vertebrate paleontologist. He conducted extensive field work in North Africa. In the 1950s he argued against the prevailing model of Neandertals as brutish and simian.During World War I he was in Military service...
of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...
. He in 1954 concluded the bone was the wing metacarpal of a giant pterosaur. In 1959 he named a new genus and species: Titanopteryx philadelphiae. The genus name meant "titan wing" in Greek; the specific name refers to the name of Amman in Antiquity
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
: Philadelphia. Arambourg let a plaster cast be made and then sent the fossil back to the phosphate mine; this last aspect was later forgotten and the bone assumed lost.
In 1975 Douglas A. Lawson
Douglas A. Lawson
Douglas A. Lawson is a geologist, paleontologist, and computer scientist.In 1971, Lawson discovered a partial wing Douglas A. Lawson (born 1947) is a geologist, paleontologist, and computer scientist.In 1971, Lawson discovered a partial wing Douglas A. Lawson (born 1947) is a geologist,...
, studying the related Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
, concluded the bone was not a metacarpal but a cervical vertebra.
In the eighties Russian paleontologist Lev Nesov was informed by an entomologist that the name Titanopteryx had already in 1934 been given by Günther Enderlein
Günther Enderlein
Günther Enderlein was a German zoologist, entomologist and later a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products. Enderlein got some international renown because of his insect research but in Germany he became famous because of his concept of the pleomorphism of microorganisms and his hypotheses about...
to a fly from the Simulidae and had thus been preoccupied in relation to the pterosaur. Therefore in 1987 he renamed the genus into Arambourgiania, honouring Arambourg. However, the name "Titanopteryx" was informally kept in use in the West, also because it was by many assumed the name was a nomen dubium
Nomen dubium
In zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...
anyway.
Early 1995, paleontologists David Martill and Eberhard Frey travelled to Jordan in an attempt to clarify matters. In a cupboard of the office of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company they discovered some other pterosaur bones: a smaller vertebra and the proximal and distal extremities of a wing phalanx — but not the original find. However, after their departure to Europe engineer Rashdie Sadaqah of the mine investigated further and in 1996 established it had been bought from the company in 1969 by geologist Hani N. Khoury who had donated it in 1973 to the University of Jordan
University of Jordan
The University of Jordan , is a government-supported University located in Amman, Jordan...
; it was still present in the collection of this institute and now could be restudied by Martill and Frey.
The holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
, VF 1, consists of a very elongated cervical vertebra, probably the fifth. Today the middle section is missing; the original find was about 62 centimetres long, but had been sawed into three parts. Most of the fossil consists of an internal infilling or mould; the thin bone walls are missing on most of the surface. The find had not presented the whole vertebra; from its posterior end a piece also was absent. Frey and Martill estimated the total length to have been 78 centimetres, using for comparison the relative position of the smallest shaft diameter of the fifth cervical vertebra of Quetzalcoatlus. From this again the total neck length was extrapolated at about three metres. From the relatively slender vertebra the length dimension was then selected to be compared to that of Quetzalcoatlus, estimated at 66 centimeters long, resulting in a ratio of 1.18. Applying that ratio to the overall size, Frey and Martill in 1998 concluded that the wingspan of Arambourgiania had been twelve to thirteen metres, compared with the ten to eleven metres of Quetzalcoatlus, and that Arambourgiania was thus the largest pterosaur then known. Later estimates have been more moderate, sometimes as low as seven metres.
Frey and Martill rejected the suggestion that Arambourgiania was a nomen dubium or identical to Quetzalcoatlus and affirmed its validity in relation to "Titanopteryx".
Nesov in 1984 had placed the species within Azhdarchinae, part of the Pteranodontidae
Pteranodontidae
The Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America.The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh....
; the same year Kevin Padian
Kevin Padian
Kevin Padian is a Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Curator of Paleontology, University of California Museum of Paleontology and President of the National Center for Science Education. Padian's area of interest is in vertebrate evolution, especially the...
placed it within Titanopterygidae. Both concepts have fallen into disuse now that such forms are commonly assigned to the Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebrae apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the early Cretaceous as well...
.