New paper describes the ‘giant’ Rhamphorhynchus described in 1888

David Hone has bungled yet another pterosaur paper.
His long list of bungles is indexed here. We’re all still waiting for his first valid contribution. His career had an inauspicious origin: He and his then professor, Mike Benton, were the first authors to un-discover the origin of pterosaurs. That set the pattern for the next nearly two decades.

Hone and McDavid 2025
bring no news to the study of pterosaurs (and they perpetuate several myths) because the authors did not run a phylogentic analysis of the taxa under study. That is key.

By contrast,
Peters 2014 employed phylogenetic analysis and was able to lump and separate 25 Rhamphorhynchus specimens in the following topology (Fig 1). Note the variability (the splitting of taxa) and their evolution. Note the phylogenetic miniaturization at the origin of the clade. Very typical. Note the single specimen that nested with the largest specimen as a juvenile (second row far left) eveb though it was larger than many of the more primitive adults.

That 2014 manuscript was rejected, but you can read it here on ResearchGate.net where it has been online since 2018.

This time (again) the subject is the genus Rhamphorhynchus.
Hone and McDavid looked at the big one (BMNH 37002 = NHMUK PV OR 37002; n81 in the Wellnhofer 1975 catalog; Fig 1 second row third from right).  The duo also chose to produce a freehand illustration for their reconstruction (Fig 2). This, of course, blurs away all the details that separate species from one another. Instead, Hone and McDavid chose to lump, ironically while describing anatomical differences. As Hone reported in his PR release, “The short version of all of this is that looking over the giant animal in detail, it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, another Rhamphorhynchus muensteri – it’s the same species as all of the other Solnhofen material.”

So this time Hone is a lumper, perhaps because Peters 2014 was a splitter (Fig 1)?
One can only wonder. Early Hone was a splitter when he described Bellebrunnus, a small, primitive Rhamphorhynchus in figure 1.

Some inconsistencies…
“We were able to show that these animals were highly isometric,”

“This animal shows differences in the anatomy not seen in smaller specimens, revealing details of late-stage ontogeny in this genus.”

Difference ≠ isometry. Same = isometry. Differences = allometry or speciation.

BTW… isometry is the way lepidosaurs mature.
We’ve known that for pterosaurs since Peters 2007.

By contrast, archosaurs have a short snout and large eyes when newly hatched, among other proportional differences not seen ever in pterosaurs.

Back to phylogenetic analysis…
Peters 2014 reported, “Two Rhamphorhynchus had identical phylogenetic scores, the mid-sized NHMW 1998z0077/0001, and the much larger, BMNH 37002.”

In other words, to determine if a small pterosaur taxon is a juvenile or an adult, run a phylogenetic analysis. Bone texture, proportions, etc. will fail you in pterosaurs due to phylogenetic miniaturizaiton, which produces precocious (= reproducing) adults with juvenile sizes, bone textures and proportions. It’s in their hormones, not their bones.

References
Habib MB and Hone DW 2024. Intraspecific variation in the pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus muensteri—implications for flight and socio-sexual signaling. PeerJ 12:e17524https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17524
Hone DWE and McDavid SN 2025. A giant specimen of Rhamphorhynchus muensteri and comments on the ontogeny of rhamphorhynchines. PeerJ 13:e18587. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18587
Hone DWE, Ratcliffe JM, Riskin DK, Hemanson JW and Reisz RR 2020. Unique near isometric ontogeny in the pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus suggests hatchlings could fly. Lethaia. Paywall access here.
Peters D 2007. The origin and radiation of the Pterosauria. In D. Hone ed. Flugsaurier. The Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting, 2007, Munich, Germany. p. 27.
Peters D 2014. First juvenile Rhamphorhynchus recovered by phylogenetic analysis. Posted online October 2018.    DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28636.03206
Wellnhofer P 1975a-c. Teil I. Die Rhamphorhynchoidea (Pterosauria) der Oberjura-Plattenkalke Süddeutschlands. Allgemeine Skelettmorphologie. Paleontographica A 148: 1-33. Teil II. Systematische Beschreibung. Paleontographica A 148: 132-186. Teil III. Paläokolgie und Stammesgeschichte. Palaeontographica 149:1-30.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328388674_First_juvenile_Rhamphorhynchus_recovered_by_phylogenetic_analysis

Variation in Rhamphorhynchus 2024: more myth, no analysis

Pterosaur isometric growth occurs after hatching. Allometric growth occurs in the egg.

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/01/03/new-paper-describes-the-giant-rhamphorhynchus-described-in-1888/