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Tapejarinae
Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most primitive genera were found in China, indicating that the family has an Asian origin. Description Tapejarids were small to medium-sized pterosaurs with several unique, shared characteristics, mainly relating to the skull. Most tapejarids possessed a bony crest arising from the snout (formed mostly by the premaxillary bones of the upper jaw tip). In some species, this bony crest is known to have supported an even larger crest of softer, fibrous tissue that extends back along the skull. Tapejarids are also characterized by their large nasoantorbital fenestra, the main opening in the skull in front of the eyes, which spans at least half the length of the entire skull in this family. Their eye sockets were small and pear-shaped. Studies of tapejarid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinopterus
''Sinopterus'' (meaning "Chinese wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. Three species have been classified in this genus, though only two are generally considered to be valid. ''Sinopterus'' is known for its proportionally large skull, which has a birdlike pointed beak, a long bony crest that starts with a tall premaxilla and goes back along the middle of the skull to form a point overhanging the rear of the skull, and its lack of teeth. Description The type species, ''S. dongi'', is based on IVPP V13363, an articulated, nearly complete skeleton. The skull of this individual was 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) long, and the wingspan was estimated to be 1.2 meters (3.9 feet). The authors suggested that it was an omnivore, and noted that it was the first record of a tapejarid outside of Brazil, and the earlies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bakonydraco
''Bakonydraco'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian stage) of what is now the Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains, Iharkút, Veszprém, western Hungary. Etymology ''Bakonydraco'' was named in 2005 by paleontologists Attila Ősi, David Weishampel, and Jianu Coralia. The type species is ''Bakonydraco galaczi''. The genus name refers to the Bakony Mountains and to Latin ''draco'', "dragon". The specific epithet ''galaczi'' honors Professor András Galácz, who helped the authors in the Iharkút Research Program, where fossils are since 2000 found in open-pit mining of bauxite, among them the remains of pterosaurs, the first ever discovered in Hungary. Description ''Bakonydraco'' is based on holotype MTM Gyn/3, a nearly complete mandibula, a fusion of the lower jaws. Also assigned to it, as paratype, is MTM Gyn/4, 21: parts from another jaw's symphysis (the front parts, having fused into a single blade-like structure, of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huaxiapterus
''Huaxiapterus'' (meaning "Hua Xia hinawing") is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the second genus of tapejarid from this formation, after ''Sinopterus''. Three species are known (''H. jii'', "''H. corollatus''", and "''H. benxiensis''"), though they may not actually form a natural group with each other. It was first named by Lü Junchang and Yuan Chongxi. Discovery The type species of ''Huaxiapterus'' is ''H. jii'', which is based on GMN-03-11-001, a nearly complete skeleton and skull. While it was initially separated from the closely related ''Sinopterus'' by several characters including its larger size and larger crest, later studies showed that it was in fact more closely related to ''Sinopterus dongi'' than to either of the other two species of ''Huaxiapterus''. Some researchers have considered ''H. jii'' to be a species of ''Sinopterus'' for this reason, though a mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinopterus Dongi
''Sinopterus'' (meaning "Chinese wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. Three species have been classified in this genus, though only two are generally considered to be valid. ''Sinopterus'' is known for its proportionally large skull, which has a birdlike pointed beak, a long bony crest that starts with a tall premaxilla and goes back along the middle of the skull to form a point overhanging the rear of the skull, and its lack of teeth. Description The type species, ''S. dongi'', is based on IVPP V13363, an articulated, nearly complete skeleton. The skull of this individual was 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) long, and the wingspan was estimated to be 1.2 meters (3.9 feet). The authors suggested that it was an omnivore, and noted that it was the first record of a tapejarid outside of Brazil, and the earlies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caiuajara
''Caiuajara'' is an extinct genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period ( Santonian stage) of Brazil. It is known from a single type species, ''Caiuajara dobruskii''. Discovery and naming In 1971, the labourers Alexandre Dobruski and his son João Gustavo Dobruski found pterosaur fossils in a field near Cruzeiro do Oeste in the south of Brazil, in the state of Paraná. The finds were in 2011 brought to the attention of paleontologists Paulo C. Manzig and Luiz C. Weinschütz. In 2014, the type species ''Caiuajara dobruskii'' was named and described by Paulo Manzig, Alexander Kellner, Luiz Weinschütz, Carlos Fragoso, Cristina Vega, Gilson Guimarães, Luiz Godoy, Antonio Liccardo, João Ricetti and Camila de Moura. The generic name refers to the geological Caiuá Group and the related genus '' Tapejara''. The specific name honors the discoverers. The holotype, CP.V 1449, was found in a sandstone layer of the Goio-Erê Formation, of Turonian age, in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caupedactylus
''Caupedactylus'' is an extinct genus of tapejarid azhdarchoid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous period ( Albian stage) of what is now the Romualdo Formation of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil. The type and only species of ''Caupedactylus'' is ''Caupedactylus ybaka''. Discovery and naming The genus was first named and described by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 2013. The type species is ''Caupedactylus ybaka''. The generic name combines the goddess of beauty of the Tupi, Caupe, with a Greek δάκτυλος, ''daktylos'', "finger", a usual suffix in the names of pterosaurs. The specific name ''ybaka'' means "dwelling in the sky" in the local Tupinambá. ''Caupedactylus'' is known from the holotype specimen MN 4726-V, probably found in the Araripe basin in a layer of the Romualdo Formation dating from the Albian, about 110 million years old. It consists of a partial skeleton with a complete skull, lower jaws and a partial postcranial skeleton. The post ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eopteranodon
''Eopteranodon'' (meaning "dawn '' Pteranodon'' (toothless wing)") is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao City, Liaoning, China. The genus was named in 2005 by paleontologists Lü Junchang and Zhang Xingliao. The type and only species is ''Eopteranodon lii''. Description and classification ''Eopteranodon'' is based on the type specimen or holotype BPV-078, an incomplete skeleton and skull. Its skull, including a large crest, was toothless and similar to that of ''Pteranodon''. The skull lacks the point of the snout but it was in life less than 200 millimeters long (7.9 inches), and the animal had a wingspan of about 1.1 meters (3.6 feet). A second specimen, D2526, described in 2006, had a larger wingspan. Despite its similarities to ''Pteranodon'', ''Eopteranodon'' was not placed into a family by its describers, who put it into the clade Pteranodontia as ''incertae sedis'' (uncertain position). Sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europejara
''Europejara'' is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Spain. The type species, type and only species known is ''Europejara olcadesorum''. Discovery and naming In 2012, the type species ''Europejara olcadesorum'' was named and described by Romain Vullo, Jesús Marugán-Lobón, Alexander Kellner, Angela Buscalioni, Bernard Gomez, Montserrat de la Fuente and José Moratalla. The generic name combines the names of Europe and the related genus ''Tapejara (pterosaur), Tapejara'', in reference to the fact that ''Europejara'' is the first tapejarid found in that continent. The specific name (zoology), specific name refers to the Olcades, the Celtiberians, Celtiberic tribe inhabiting the region of Province of Cuenca (Spain), Cuenca, the location of the find, in Classical antiquity, Antiquity. The holotype, MCCM-LH 9413, was uncovered at the Las Hoyas site in a chalkstone layer of the Calizas de La Huergina Formation dating from the late Barremian. It cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caiuajara Dobruskii
''Caiuajara'' is an extinct genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian stage) of Brazil. It is known from a single type species, ''Caiuajara dobruskii''. Discovery and naming In 1971, the labourers Alexandre Dobruski and his son João Gustavo Dobruski found pterosaur fossils in a field near Cruzeiro do Oeste in the south of Brazil, in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná. The finds were in 2011 brought to the attention of paleontologists Paulo C. Manzig and Luiz C. Weinschütz. In 2014, the type species ''Caiuajara dobruskii'' was named and described by Paulo Manzig, Alexander Kellner, Luiz Weinschütz, Carlos Fragoso, Cristina Vega, Gilson Guimarães, Luiz Godoy, Antonio Liccardo, João Ricetti and Camila de Moura. The generic name refers to the geological Caiuá Group and the related genus ''Tapejara (pterosaur), Tapejara''. The specific name (zoology), specific name honors the discoverers. The holotype, CP.V 1449, was found in a sandstone laye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassodrominae
Thalassodrominae or Thalassodromidae (meaning "sea runners", due to previous misconceptions of skimming behavior; they are now thought to be terrestrial predators) is a group of azhdarchoid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Its traditional members come from Brazil, however, other possible members also come from other places, including the United States, Morocco, and Argentina. Thalassodrominae is considered either to be a subfamily within the pterosaur family Tapejaridae, or as a distinct family, Thalassodromidae, within the clade Neoazhdarchia, closely related to dsungaripterids or azhdarchids. Classification Thalassodrominae traditionally includes only two genera, ''Thalassodromeus'' and ''Tupuxuara'', and was defined to include them and any other descendants of their most recent common ancestor. The classification of thalassodromines is controversial. Some studies, including one by Lü and colleagues in 2008, have found that the thalassodromines are more closely related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejara Wellnhoferi
''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 Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aymberedactylus
''Aymberedactylus'' (meaning "small lizard finger") is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It contains a single species, ''A. cearensis.'' Discovery and naming The holotype specimen of ''Aymberedactylus'', MN 7596-V, is a nearly complete mandible preserved in three dimensions. It was discovered in the Aptian- Albian Crato Formation, a konservat-lagerstätte well known for its exquisite preservation of fossils, and it was described in 2016. The name ''Aymberedactylus'' is derived from the Tupi word ("small lizard") and Greek ("finger"), and the specific name refers to the Brazilian state of Ceará, which it was discovered in. Description ''Aymberedactylus'' can be identified as a tapejarine tapejarid from the holotypic jawbone due to its toothlessness, slightly downturned dentary symphysis which accounts for half of the total length of the jaw, and a small crest on the bottom of the dentary (which was incompletely preserved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
