View source for Sordes

{{Short description|Genus breviquartossan pterosaur from the Late Jurassic}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Late Jurassic]], {{fossilrange|155.7}}
| image = Sordes pilosus skeleton (cropped).JPG
| image_caption = Fossil specimen
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Sordes
| authority = [[Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov|Sharov]], 1971
| type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Sordes pilosus'''''
| type_species_authority = Sharov, 1971 
}}

'''''Sordes''''' is a [[genus]] of small [[pterosaur]] from the late [[Jurassic]] ([[Oxfordian (stage)|Oxfordian]]/[[Kimmeridgian]]) [[Karabastau Svita]] of [[Kazakhstan]].

This genus was named in 1971 by [[Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov]].<ref>Sharov, A. G. 1971 Novyiye lyetayushchiye reptili iz myezozoya Kazakhstana i Kirgizii [New flying reptiles from the Mesozoic of Kazakhstan and Kirghizia]. ''Trudy paleont. Inst. Moscow''. Russian text with end plates.</ref> The [[type species]] is ''Sordes pilosus''. The genus name is [[Latin]] for "filth" or "scum"; but Sharov translates it as "{{lang|ru|nechist}}", which means "devil" or "evil spirit", so the  intended translation is "hairy devil"<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Bakhurina, N.N. |author2=Unwin, D.M. |title=The evidence for 'hair' in ''Sordes'' and other pterosaurs|year=1995|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=15}}</ref> (the [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] is Latin for "hairy"; despite ''sordes'' being feminine, it has not yet been emended to ''pilosa''{{or|date=August 2021}}).

==Discovery==
''Sordes'' is based on the [[holotype]] [[Paleontological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences|PIN]] 2585/3, which consists of a crushed relatively complete skeleton on a slab. It was found in the 1960s at the foothills of the [[Karatau]] in [[Kazakhstan]].

Sharov had already referred a [[paratype]] or second specimen: [[Paleontological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences|PIN]] 2470/1, again a fairly complete skeleton on a slab. By 2003 another six specimens had been discovered.

==Description==
{{refimprove section|date=October 2017}}
[[File:Sordes skeletal.jpg|thumb|left|Skeletal reconstruction of the holotype PIN 2585/3]]
''Sordes'' had a 0.63&nbsp;m (2&nbsp;ft) wingspan. The wings were relatively short. ''Sordes'' had, according to Sharov and Unwin, wing membranes attached to the legs and a membrane between the legs. It had a short neck. It had a long tail, accounting for over half its length, with at the end an elongated vane.

===Skull and dentition===
[[File:SordesDB.jpg|thumb|Life restoration]]
It had a slender, not round, head with moderately long, pointed jaws. The skull was about 8&nbsp;cm (3.2&nbsp;in) long. Unlike many pterosaurs, it had no head crest. The teeth in the frontal half of the jaws are large and pointed to facilitate prey capture. The teeth beyond these in the rear half of the jaw are much smaller and more numerous than those at the front, suggesting that they were more for crushing. Together these two types of teeth indicate specialisation for prey that was difficult to catch yet required some effort to eat. Likely contenders are invertebrates with tougher exoskeletons, or amphibians that were slippery to catch and then required some crunching before they could be swallowed.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

===Pycnofibers===
[[File:Sordes pilosus.jpg|thumb|Holotype specimen]]
The [[fossil]] shows remains of the soft parts, such as membranes and hair-like filaments. This was the first unequivocal proof that pterosaurs had a layer of hair-like filaments covering their bodies, later named [[pycnofibres]]. The pycnofibres served as insulation, an indication the group was [[warm-blooded]], and provided a streamlined flight profile. The pycnofibres are present in two main types: longer at the extreme part of the wing membrane and shorter near the body. In the 1990s, [[David Unwin]] argued that both types were essentially not hairs but reinforcing fibres of the flight membranes.<ref>Elgin, R.A., Hone, D.W.E., and Frey, E. 2011. The extent of the pterosaur flight membrane. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 (1): 99–111. [http://app.pan.pl/archive/published/app56/app20090145.pdf]</ref> Later he emphasized that "hair" in the form of pycnofibres was indeed present on the body, after the find of new specimens clearly showing this.

==Classification==
''Sordes'' has been assigned to the family [[Rhamphorhynchidae]]. These were among the earliest of the pterosaurs, evolving in the late [[Triassic]] and surviving to the late Jurassic. According to Unwin, within Rhamphorhynchidae ''Sordes'' belonged to the [[Scaphognathinae]]. Other researchers however, such as [[Alexander Kellner]] and [[Lü Junchang]], have produced [[cladistic]] analyses showing that ''Sordes'' was much more [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]], and not a rhamphorhynchid.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

==See also==
* [[List of pterosaur genera]]
* [[Timeline of pterosaur research]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://triunecommunications.com/fossilsmith/images/sordes2.jpg Artistic reconstruction of a ''Sordes pilosus'' at the Fossilsmith Studios]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051023030626/http://www.paleo.ru/museum/img/large/28.jpg A fossil of a ''Sordes'' at paleo.ru]
*[http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.ca/ptero/sordes.htm Article and picture of ''Sordes'']
{{Pterosauria|M.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q133000}}
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[[Category:Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Asia]]
[[Category:Novialoids]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1971]]