Cuspicephalus

Cuspicephalus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
Photograph (A), line drawing (B), and reconstruction (C) of the right side of the holotype skull
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Family: †Wukongopteridae
Subfamily: †Wukongopterinae
Genus: †
Martill & Etches, 2013
Species:
†C. scarfi
Binomial name
†Cuspicephalus scarfi
Martill & Etches, 2013

Cuspicephalus is an extinct genus of monofenestratan pterosaur known from Dorset in England. Its fossil remains date back to the Late Jurassic period.[1]

Discovery and naming

In December of 2009, fossil collector Steve Etches discovered the partial skull of a pterosaur in Kimmeridge Bay on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula of Dorset, England. Part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, the rocks of this area are the heart of the Kimmeridge Clay, a Late Jurassic fossil-bearing deposit. As pterosaur remains are rare in the UK, the skull was considered an important discovery. It was collected in the Museum of Jurassic Marine Life as specimen number MJML 1918, and was later put on display there.[1][2]

Most of the skull is preserved; the majority of the rostrum (anatomy) along with tooth sockets, part of a crest along the top of the skull, nasal bones, the bottom edge of the nasantorbital fenestra (a large hole occupying the center of the skull), and much of the back of the skull are all preserved. Other portions of the skull were eroded away, with faint traces of some missing elements; no teeth were preserved.[1] Although only the right side of the skull was initially prepared, further work on the specimen later exposed the left side of the skull, which better preserved the same elements as the right side.[3]

The specimen was described in a 2013 study by David Martill and Etches, published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Based upon the specimen, they established the new genus and species Cuspicephalus scarfi. The generic name is derived from cuspis, Latin for "point", after its pointed rostrum, and a Latinised Greek κεφαλή, kephalè, for "head". The specific name honours artist and cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, whose caricatures usually feature pointed noses reminiscent of Cuspicephalus.[1] In particular, a Scarfe caricature of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a "torydactyl", evoking the appearance of a pterodactyl, served as inspiration for the choice of name.[4][2] A further study on the genus, along with French pterosaur Normannognathus, was published by Martill, Etches, and Mark Witton in 2015. They aimed to clarify the relationship of Cuspicephalus to other pterosaurs, something that had remained unclear during the original study.[5] The left side of the skull was not exposed until after both studies had been published.[3]

Description

The skull is lightly built and has a length of 326 millimetres. It is very elongated, being just 55 millimetres high at the back, and has a triangular profile. Almost half of its length is accounted for by a large skull opening, the fenestra nasoantorbitalis, a confluence of the original fenestra antorbitalis with the bony nostrils. In front of this opening a low and elongated snout is present. The rostral index sensu Naish & Martill of this snout, in this case its length divided by its maximum height, is 5.4, the highest value known for any pterosaur. In the snout about eleven or twelve teeth are present; the total for the upper jaw is estimated at twenty-five to thirty. The teeth are largest in front and gradually decline in size towards the back. They have a broad base with an oval cross-section. Perhaps they are pointing outwards to a degree but the deformation of the fossil by compression makes this uncertain.

On top of the skull, behind the snout proper, above the fenestra a longitudinal low bony crest is present. It consists of fibrous bone, vertically directed, which might have formed the base for a much higher crest of soft tissue. The crest starts above the twelfth tooth position; its limit at the back is unknown because of damage but it is considered unlikely that it extended as far as the eyes, the roof of the skull not showing any trace of it. The crest is highest in the (preserved) middle.

Based on comparisons with more complete darwinopterans, the wingspan of Cuspicephalus has been estimated between 1.2 metres (3.9 ft)[5] and 1.8–2 metres (5.9–6.6 ft), making it a notably large member of this clade.[6][7]

Phylogeny

The describers did not perform a cladistic analysis to determine the exact place of Cuspicephalus in pterosaur phylogeny. Using the comparative method, they noticed a resemblance to Germanodactylus. Until recently pterosaurs with a head shape like that of Cuspicephalus would as a matter of course been assigned to the Pterodactyloidea. Today it is known however that more basal groups had comparable heads, so the describers placed Cuspicephalus as a member of the more general Monofenestrata. A more thorough analysis published in 2015 found that Cuspicephalus was likely a primitive monofenestratan pterosaur, and, specifically, a member of the group Wukongopteridae.[5]

In their 2024 description of the Scottish Ceoptera, Martin-Silverstone et al. recovered Cuspicephalus within a poorly-resolved Darwinoptera alongside this taxon. These results are displayed in the cladogram below:[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d David M. Martill & Steve Etches (2013). "A new monofenestratan pterosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, Kimmeridgian) of Dorset, England". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 58 (2): 285–294. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0071.
  2. ^ a b Univeristy of Portsmouth (22 November 2011). "New pterosaur species named after political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe". BBC. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b Fernandes, Alexandra E.; Pol, Diego; Rauhut, Oliver W. M. (11 December 2024). "The oldest monofenestratan pterosaur from the Queso Rallado locality (Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Toarcian) of Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina". Royal Society Open Science. 11 (12). Bibcode:2024RSOS...1141238F. doi:10.1098/rsos.241238. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 11631458. PMID 39665092.
  4. ^ Martill, David (25 December 2011). "Guest Post: Scarfe's snout". Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Witton, Mark P.; O’Sullivan, Michael & Martill, David M. (2015). "The relationships of Cuspicephalus scarfi Martill and Etches, 2013 and Normannognathus wellnhoferi Buffetaut et al., 1998 to other monofenestratan pterosaurs". Contributions to Zoology. 84 (2): 115–127. doi:10.1163/18759866-08402002.
  6. ^ Witton, Mark (2013). "14. Wukongopteridae". Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton, New Jersery: Princeton University Press. pp. 135–142. ISBN 978-0-691-15061-1.
  7. ^ Paul, Gregory S. (2022). The Princeton Field Guide to Pterosaurs. Princeton Field Guides. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-691-18017-5.
  8. ^ Martin-Silverstone, Elizabeth; Unwin, David M.; Cuff, Andrew R.; Brown, Emily E.; Allington-Jones, Lu; Barrett, Paul M. (5 February 2024). "A new pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland and the early diversification of flying reptiles". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 43 (4). doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2298741. ISSN 0272-4634.
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