Lonchodraco
Classification
Classification
--------------

In 2013, Brazilian paleontologists Rodrigues \& Kellner assigned *Lonchodraco* to a family called [Lonchodraconidae](/wiki/Lonchodraconidae "Lonchodraconidae"), which was not defined as a clade and of which *Lonchodraco* was the only member. Later in their analysis however, Rodrigues \& Kellner considered the definition of Lonchodraconidae to be more or less synonymous to that of [Lonchodectidae](/wiki/Lonchodectidae "Lonchodectidae"), however, they stated that *[Lonchodectes](/wiki/Lonchodectes "Lonchodectes")* is a *nomen dubium* and therefore should not be included in the group. In their [cladistic](/wiki/Cladistic "Cladistic") analysis, they concluded that the three species of *Lonchodraco* formed a cluster, but it proved impossible to obtain a precise position for it because their inclusion in the dataset made the tree largely collapse into a [polytomy](/wiki/Polytomy "Polytomy") containing, apart from the three species, all Pterodactyloidea and even the [Rhamphorhynchidae](/wiki/Rhamphorhynchidae "Rhamphorhynchidae").

A topology recovered by Longrich and colleagues in 2018 placed *Lonchodraco* within the family Lonchodectidae as the sister taxon of *Lonchodectes*, with the family being placed within the larger group [Ornithocheiromorpha](/wiki/Ornithocheiromorpha "Ornithocheiromorpha").Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018\). ["Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous\-Paleogene boundary."](http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663) *PLoS Biology*, **16**(3\): e2001663\.  However, in several recent studies, including Pêgas *et al.* (2019\) and Holgado \& Pêgas (2020\), the term Lonchodraconidae is used, and *Lonchodraco* is recovered within this group, sister taxon to *Ikrandraco*.Rodrigo V. Pêgas, Borja Holgado \& Maria Eduarda C. Leal (2019\) On *Targaryendraco wiedenrothi* gen. nov. (Pterodactyloidea, Pteranodontoidea, Lanceodontia) and recognition of a new cosmopolitan lineage of Cretaceous toothed pterodactyloids, Historical Biology, 

**Topology 1**: Longrich *et al.* (2018\).

**Topology 2**: Pêgas *et al.* (2019\).


In which study is Lonchodraconidae used and Lonchodraco recovered as its member?