An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Solnhofen (Upper Jurassic, Germany) Pterosaur Specimens at Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Abstract

We present an annotated and illustrated catalogue of all original fossils, casts, and sculpted replicas of pterosaur specimens from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen limestones of southern Germany that are housed at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.). The museum obtained its substantial Solnhofen pterosaur fossil collection—almost certainly the largest currently held outside of Europe—as part of its purchase of the vast private collection of the Belgian Baron Ernest de Bayet in 1903. Original fossils include six partial to nearly complete skeletons and a beautifully preserved skull of the rhamphorhynchine Rhamphorhynchus muensteri (Goldfuss, 1831), two skeletons of the ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid Aurorazhdarcho micronyx (von Meyer, 1856), and one large pterodactyloid partial appendicular skeleton of indeterminate affinity. Three of the fossils preserve significant soft tissues, and one of these is also among the very few specimens of Rhamphorhynchus von Meyer, 1847 known to include probable gut contents (in this case, fragmentary fish remains). Two other Rhamphorhynchus fossils have been prepared nearly free of sediment in three dimensions. Despite the significance of the Carnegie Museum's Solnhofen pterosaur collection, it has, in general, been underutilized by the paleontological community. The primary purpose of this catalogue is therefore to increase awareness, and ideally study, of this scientifically and historically important collection of Late Jurassic flying reptiles.