Palaeornis cliftii Mantell, 1844

Rodrigues, Taissa & Kellner, Alexander Wilhelm Armin, 2013, Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England, ZooKeys 308, pp. 1-112 : 38

Palaeornis cliftii Mantell, 1844 (nomen dubium)

Palaeornis cliftii Mantell: Mantell 1844: p. 806, fig. 149

Palaeornis cliftii Pterosaur bones: Owen 1846b: fig. 1-4

Pterodactylus sylvestris Owen: Owen 1859: p. 15

Pterodactylus ornis Owen: Owen 1861: p. 17

Ornithochirus [sic](?) clifti [sic] (Mantell): Lydekker 1888: p. 25

Ornithocheirus clifti (Mantell): Hooley 1914: p. 539

Ornithocheiridae incertae sedis: Wellnhofer 1978: 58

Ornithostoma sedgwicki (Seeley): Averianov 2011: p. 46

Holotype.

NHMUK PV 2353 and 2353a, partial left humerus.

Type locality.

Cuckfield, Sussex, England.

Type horizon.

Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation ( Witton et al. 2009), Hastings Group.

Remarks.

This species was first described as a bird ( Mantell 1837, 1844) and later identified as a pterosaur bone ( Owen 1846b). Newton (1888) pointed out that Palaeornis cliftii was a nomen dubium, and we concur. Witton et al. (2009) have recently thoroughly reviewed the taxonomic history and provided a detailed morphological description of Palaeornis cliftii , also considering it a nomen dubium. They also analyzed its phylogenetic affinities and pointed out that its classification as Ornithocheirus is problematic in part because the specimen cannot be compared with the holotype of Ornithocheirus [simus] . They identified the humerus as pertaining to Lonchodectidae (sensu Unwin 2001); however, as in the case with Ornithocheirus simus , no species referred in Lonchodectes (sensu Unwin 2001) or Yixianopterus jingangshanensis ( Lü et al. 2006) has a known humerus, despite their illustration of a humerus allegedly pertaining to Lonchodectes . Subsequently, Averianov (2011) interpreted this specimen, along with some material from the Cambridge Greensand, as an azhdarchoid, more specifically Ornithostoma , which is known only from cranial material. As Palaeornis cliftii is funded upon non-diagnostic material, we consider it a nomen dubium and Azhdarchoidea indet.