Laura Codorniú, Luis M. Chiappe, and Fabricio D. Cid.
Two nearly complete
skeletons of the filter-feeding pterodactyloid Pterodaustro guinazui from the Lowe Cretaceous of Argentina exhibit
clusters of poorly sorted coarse sand to fine gravel inside the abdominal
cavity. These stones are interpreted as ingested gastroliths (geogastroliths),
which are commonly found in a variety of archosaurs (including birds) but have
never before been reported in a pterosaur. The geogastroliths found in these Pterodaustro specimens are interprete as
having assisted in the digestion of hard food items such as ‘shelled’
crustaceans that are abundant in the fossil beds of this pterosaur. One of
these specimens with geogastroliths has anteriormandibular teeth that are
notably thicker than the posterior teeth and are somewhat procumbent. We
suggest that these teeth might have facilitated the apprehension of fine
gravel.
Codorniú, L., Chiappe,
L.M. and Cid, F.D. 2013. First Occurrence of stomach stones in Pterosaurs.
Journal
of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(3): 647–654.
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