page_title: Ornithocheiromorpha
section_title: Diet and feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Ornithocheiromorpha / Paleobiology / Diet and feeding
caption_attribution_description: Lonchodectes compressirostris (left) &amp; Cimoliopterus cuvieri (formerly Ornithocheirus).
context_page_description: Ornithocheiromorpha is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Fossil remains of this group date back from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, around 140 to 94 million years ago. Ornithocheiromorphs were discovered worldwide except Antarctica, though most genera were recovered in Europe, Asia and South America. They were the most diverse and successful pterosaurs during the Early Cretaceous, but throughout the Late Cretaceous they were replaced by better adapted and more advanced pterosaur species such the pteranodontids and azhdarchoids. The most diverse families of the group, the Ornithocheiridae and Anhangueridae, survived until the early Late Cretaceous with Ferrodraco, Ornithocheirus, Cimoliopterus, Lonchodectes and Lonchodraco being some of the last remaining. The Ornithocheiromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues, and they made Ornithocheiromorpha the most inclusive clade containing Ornithocheirus, but not Pteranodon.
  Ornithocheiromorphs are considered to be some of the largest animals to have ever flown.
context_section_description: Ornithocheiromorphs were originally regarded as piscivorous creatures, feeding mainly on small and mid-sized fish. Some paleontologists even suggested details on how these pterosaurs caught fish, some of which included dipping their beaks close to the water for prey. Hooley for example, found that the beak of the well known Istiodactylus was similar to those of birds such as herons, storks, and skimmers, and suggested that Istiodactylus probably fed on fish, this was mainly based on his 1913 jaw reconstruction of the animal. In 1991, Peter Wellnhofer compared the jaw endings of Istiodactylus with those of a duck, but he then noticed that it wasn't a "duck-billed pterosaur" or anything similar, even though it was popularly called that way. Other diet suggestions for Istiodactylus were mostly based on the broad snout remains, as well as the very distinctive teeth; leading to the thought of a more terrestrial life and hunting methods, which is far different from the lifestyle of later genera such as the huge Tropeognathus. This conclusion was later followed by Howse and colleagues suggesting that the strong, yet bizarre teeth of Istiodactylus were more suited for scavenging carcasses rather than catching fish, this led the idea of a different feeding technique, which consisted in bitting and twisting the skull to remove large chunks out of the carcass, very different from the initial suggestions of how early ornithocheiromorphs fed. Witton in 2012 found that the teeth of Istiodactylus were unlike the recurved and enlarged teeth seen in the more derived ornithocheirids such as Ornithocheirus, he instead pointed out that it was more "razor-edged" and better suited for carrion rather than fish.
  Another ornithocheiromorph that possesed similar features to Istiodactylus is Liaoxipterus, which is known from a skull with several unique traits, including numerous peg-like teeth. The shape of its teeth indicated that Liaoxipterus was a possible insectivore, though this conclusion isn't considered entirely accurate. Liaoxipterus was also smaller in size compared to Istiodactylus and other ornithocheiromorphs, this is perhaps an indication that the more primitive members of this group (istiodactylids in this case) were smaller compared to more derived and advanced families such as the lonchodectids, ornithocheirids and targaryendraconians. This can also be seen in the size comparison between ornithocheirids and istiodactylids, with the wingspan of Tropeognathus for example, measuring almost double that of Istiodactylus.
  Ornithocheirids like Tropeognathus and Coloborhynchus are considered to be fish-eaters, and had longer and sharper teeth compared to the more rounded teeth of Istiodactylus, though this is still sometimes disputed. Another difference that can be seen in more primitive ornithocheiromorphs their eyes being proportionally smaller compared to the assumed predatory and more advanced ornithocheirids, this again adds to the fact that the more primitive groups (istiodactylids) were most likely scavengers, and later got more successful within the food chain, leading the later, more advanced groups (ornithocheirids and lonchodectids) to be the dominant fish hunters during the early Late Cretaceous.
caption: Cimoliopterus (right) stealing prey from a Lonchodectes (left), both were derived members of this group and possible fish hunters
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