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Alanqidae
Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, ''Tendaguripterus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic period. The largest azhdarchoids include members of the family Azhdarchidae, examples of these are '' Quetzalcoatlus'', '' Hatzegopteryx'', and ''Arambourgiania''. The Azhdarchoidea has been recovered as either closely related to the Ctenochasmatoidea, as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea within the Ornithocheiroidea, or within the Tapejaroidea, which in turn was also within the Ornithocheiroidea. Classification Azhdarchoidea was given a phylogenetic definition by David Unwin in 2003. Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of '' Quetzalcoatlus'' and '' Tapejara'', and all its descendants.Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alanqa
''Alanqa'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) of what is now the Kem Kem Beds of southeastern Morocco. The name ''Alanqa'' comes from the Arabic word العنقاء ''al- ‘Anqā’'', for a mythical bird of Arabian culture. Discovery Aided by local villagers, a team of paleontologists had been excavating at several locations in the Kem Kem Beds during April, and November to December 2008, uncovering remains of several different pterosaurs. The material was fragmentary, and the type locality for ''Alanqa'' is Aferdou N'Chaft, near the village of Begaa and to the north-east of Taouz. Description ''Alanqa'' is known only from five fragments of the front upper and lower jaws, and possibly a neck vertebra, representing the single type species ''Alanqa saharica''. Two of these fragments were first described, but not named, by Wellnhofer and Buffetaut in 1999, and referred to a pteranodontid. Three additional jaw specimens, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejaroidea
Tapejaroidea (or tapejaroids) is a group of pterosaurs belonging to the clade Ornithocheiroidea. Tapejaroids lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, with one possible member, ''Tendaguripterus'', extending the fossil range to the Late Jurassic period. Tapejaroidea contains two groups, the Dsungaripteridae and the Azhdarchoidea, which in turn includes the azhdarchids, the group that contains some of the largest flying animals. The group was named by Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996. Classification Tapejaroidea was named by paleontologist Alexander Kellner from Brazil in 1996, and in 2003 it was given a phylogenetic definition by Kellner himself as the most recent common ancestor of ''Dsungaripterus'', '' Tapejara'' and ''Quetzalcoatlus'', and all their descendants. Tapejaroidea, in Kellner's 2003 study, was recovered as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea, both within the group Ornithocheiroidea, and consisting of the groups Dsungarip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keresdrakon
''Keresdrakon'' is an extinct genus of tapejaromorph pterosaur from the Goio-Erê Formation of Brazil, which dates back to the Late Cretaceous period (Turonian-Campanian stages), 94 to 71 million years ago. ''Keresdrakon'' contains a single species, ''Keresdrakon vilsoni''. Discovery In 1971, Alexandre Dobruski and his son João Gustavo Dobruski, discovered a fossil site near Cruzeiro do Oeste in Paraná. Only in 2011, paleontologists Paulo César Manzig and Luiz C. Weinschütz visited the location. A bone bed proved to be present with hundreds of specimens of a pterosaur that in 2014 was named ''Caiuajara''. Among them were some bones belonging to a second pterosaur species. These remains, both of ''Caiuajara'' and the new taxon, were prepared by volunteer Vilson Greinert. In 2019, the type species ''Keresdrakon vilsoni'' was named and described by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner, Luiz Carlos Weinschütz, Borja Holgado, Renan Alfredo Machado Bantim and Juliana Manso Sayão. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian-Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km2. In the Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kerguelen P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiodactylus
''Radiodactylus'' (meaning "radio finger") is an extinct genus of non-azhdarchid azhdarchoid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now Texas, southern United States. It contains a single species, ''Radiodactylus langstoni''. Discovery ''Radiodactylus'' is known solely from its holotype, SMU 72547, a nearly complete left humerus first described by Phillip Murry ''et al.'' (1991).Murry, P.A., Winkler, D.A. & Jacobs, L.L., 1991, "An azhdarchid pterosaur humerus from the Lower Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of Texas", ''Journal of Paleontology'' 65(1): 167–170 The specimen is well preserved in three dimensions with no apparent crushing. The humerus lacks only portions of the proximal end and anterior end of the deltopectoral crest, and has a fracture in the mid-shaft area where it is very slightly rotationally distorted. ''Radiodactylus'' was first named by Brian Andres and Timothy S. Myers in 2013 and the type species is ''Radiodactylus langstoni''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejara (pterosaur)
''Tapejara'' (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") is a genus of Brazilian pterosaur from the Cretaceous Period (Santana Formation, dating to about 127 to 112 million years ago). ''Tapejara'' crests consisted of a semicircular crest over the snout, and a bony prong which extended back behind the head. It was a small pterosaur, with a wingspan of approximately . Species and classification The type species and only one currently recognized as valid by most researchers, is ''T. wellnhoferi''. The specific name honors German paleontologist Peter Wellnhofer. Two larger species, originally named ''Tapejara imperator'' and ''Tapejara navigans'', were later classified in the genus ''Tapejara''. However, several studies have shown that ''T. imperator'' and ''T. navigans'' are significantly different from ''T. wellnhoferi'' and therefore were reclassified into new genera. The species ''T. imperator'' was given its own genus, ''Tupandactylus'', by Alexander Kellner and Diogenes de A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pteranodontoidea
Pteranodontoidea (or pteranodontoids, from Greek meaning "toothless wings") is an extinct clade of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the Early to Late Cretaceous (early Valanginian to late Maastrichtian stages) of Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. It was named by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996. In 2003, Kellner defined the clade as a node-based taxon consisting of the last common ancestor of ''Anhanguera'', ''Pteranodon'' and all its descendants. The clade Ornithocheiroidea is sometimes considered to be the senior synonym of Pteranodontoidea, however it depends on its definition.Unwin, D. M., (2003): On the phylogeny and evolutionary history of pterosaurs. pp. 139-190. — ''in'' Buffetaut, E. & Mazin, J.-M., (eds.): ''Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs''. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 217, London, 1-347 Brian Andres (2008, 2010, 2014) in his analyses, converts Ornithocheiroidea using the definition of Kellner (2003) to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ctenochasmatoidea
Ctenochasmatoidea is a group of early pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Their remains are usually found in what were once coastal or lake environments. They generally had long wings, long necks, and highly specialized teeth. Evolutionary history The earliest known ctenochasmatoid remains date to the Late Jurassic Kimmeridgian age. Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae,Buffetaut, E. and Jeffrey, P. (2012). "A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." ''Geological Magazine'', (advance online publication) though further examination suggested it belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur. Ecology Most ctenochasmatoids were aquatic or semi-aquatic pterosaurs, possessing large webbed hindfeet and long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arambourgiania
''Arambourgiania'' is an extinct genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of Jordan, and possibly the United States.Harrell, T. Lynn Jr.; Gibson, Michael A.; Langston, Wann Jr. (2016). "A cervical vertebra of ''Arambourgiania philadelphiae'' (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the Late Campanian micaceous facies of the Coon Creek Formation in McNairy County, Tennessee, USA" ''Bull. Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist.'' 33:94–103 ''Arambourgiania'' was among the largest members of its family, the Azhdarchidae, and it is also one of the largest flying animals ever known. The incomplete left ulna of the "Sidi Chennane azhdarchid" from Morocco may have also belonged to ''Arambourgiania''. History of discovery In the early 1940s, a railway worker during repairs on the Amman-Damascus railroad near Russeifa found a two foot long fossil bone. In 1943 this was acquired by the director of a nearby phosphate mine, Amin Kawar, who brought it to the attention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatzegopteryx
''Hatzegopteryx'' ("Hațeg basin wing") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuş Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, ''Hatzegopteryx thambema'', named by Buffetaut ''et al.'' in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of . Unusually among giant azhdarchids, ''Hatzegopteryx'' had a very wide skull bearing large muscular attachments; bones with a spongy internal texture instead of hollow; and a short, robust, and heavily muscled neck measuring long, which was about half the length of other azhdarchids with comparable wingspans, and was capable of withstanding strong bending forces. ''Hatzegopteryx'' inhabited Hațeg Island, an island situated in the Cret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quetzalcoatlus
''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a genus of pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period of North America (Maastrichtian stage); its members were among the largest known flying animals of all time. ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. Its name comes from the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl. The type species is ''Q. northropi'', named by Douglas Lawson in 1975; the genus also includes the smaller species ''Q. lawsoni'', which was known for many years as an unnamed species before being named by Brian Andres and Wann Langston Jr. (posthumously) in 2021. Discovery and species The first ''Quetzalcoatlus'' fossils were discovered in Texas, United States, from the Maastrichtian Javelina Formation at Big Bend National Park (dated to around 68 million years ago) in 1971 by Douglas A. Lawson, then a geology graduate student from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tendaguripterus
''Tendaguripterus'' was a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Middle Saurian Beds (Tendaguru Formation) of Tendaguru, Lindi Region, Tanzania. Discovery and naming During the German paleontological expeditions to German East Africa between 1909 and 1913, some pterosaur fossil material was collected that was recognized as such by Hans Reck in 1931. In 1999 David Unwin and Wolf-Dieter Heinrich named a new genus for it. The type species is ''Tendaguripterus recki''. The genus name is derived from Tendaguru and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name honors Reck. Description The genus is based on holotype MB.R.1290, a partial mandible with teeth (the symphyseal region, where the two lower jaws meet and fuse into one element). The top of the back of the symphysis is very concave. The teeth in the posterior section of the jaw fragment point strongly backwards. They are also the longest. The teeth are set relativel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
