''Tapejara'' (from a
Tupi Tupi may refer to:
* Tupi people of Brazil
* Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America
** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people
* Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil
* Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...
word meaning "the old being") is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian
pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...
from the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
Period (
Santana Formation
The Santana Group is a geologic group, formerly included as the middle part of the Araripe Group, in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil. The group comprises the Crato, Ipubi and Romualdo Formations and is dated to the Aptian to Albian sta ...
, 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
![Tapejarines mmartyniuk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Tapejarines_mmartyniuk.png)
The type species and only one currently recognized as valid by most researchers, is ''T. wellnhoferi''. The
specific name honors
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
paleontologist
Peter Wellnhofer
Peter Wellnhofer (born Munich, 1936) is a German paleontologist at the Bayerische Staatssammlung fur Paläontologie in Munich. He is best known for his work on the various fossil specimens of ''Archaeopteryx'' or "Urvogel", the first known bird. W ...
. 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
''Tupandactylus'' (meaning "Tupan finger", in reference to the Tupi thunder god) is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil.
History
''Tupandactylus imperator'' is known from four nea ...
'', by
Alexander Kellner
Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (born September 26, 1961) is a Brazilian geologist and paleontologist who is a leading expert in the field of studying pterosaurs. His research has focused mainly on fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous Period, i ...
and Diogenes de Almeida Campos.
Unwin and Martill found that ''T. imperator'' and ''T. navigans'' belong in the same genus, and named them ''Ingridia imperator'' and ''I. navigans'', respectively. This genus name honored Wellnhofer's late wife Ingrid.
[Unwin, D. M. and Martill, D. M. (2007). "Pterosaurs of the Crato Formation." In Martill, D. M., Bechly, G. and Loveridge, R. F. (eds), ''The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World.'' Cambridge University Press (Cambridge), pp. 475–524.]
Because ''Tupandactylus'' was named first, it retained priority over the name ''Ingridia''. To complicate matters, both the name ''Tupandactylus'' and ''Ingridia'' used the former ''Tapejara imperator'' as their
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
.
[Naish, D. (2008). "Crato Formation fossils and the new tapejarids." Weblog entry. ''Tetrapod Zoology''. January 18, 2008. Accessed January 31, 2008 ().] The scientists who described ''Tupandactylus'' did not name a ''Tupandactylus navigans'' (but instead suggested it was synonymous to ''Tupandactylus imperator''), and ''Tapejara navigans'' was not formally reclassified as a distinct species of ''Tupandactylus'' until 2011.
[
]
![Cast of Tapejara wellnhoferi - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Cast_of_Tapejara_wellnhoferi_-_Pterosaurs_Flight_in_the_Age_of_Dinosaurs.jpg)
The cladogram below follows a
phylogenetic analysis
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
by Kellner, the describer of ''Tapejara'', and colleagues in 2019. They recovered ''Tapejara'' within the
Tapejarini
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 primit ...
(a tribe within the family Tapejaridae), sister taxon to three other genera: ''
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'' ...
'', ''
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 Dobr ...
'', and ''
Tupandactylus
''Tupandactylus'' (meaning "Tupan finger", in reference to the Tupi thunder god) is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil.
History
''Tupandactylus imperator'' is known from four nea ...
''.
Paleobiology
Comparisons between the
scleral rings of ''Tapejara'' and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been
cathemeral
Cathemerality, sometimes called metaturnality, is an organismal activity pattern of irregular intervals during the day or night in which food is acquired, socializing with other organisms occurs, and any other activities necessary for livelihood ar ...
, active throughout the day at short intervals.
See also
*
List of pterosaur genera
This list of pterosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Pterosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered inval ...
*
Timeline of pterosaur research
This timeline of pterosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, and taxonomic revisions of pterosaurs, the famed flying reptiles of the Mesozoic era. Although pterosaurs w ...
References
{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, Brazil
Tapejaromorphs
Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of South America
Albian life
Aptian life
Cretaceous Brazil
Fossils of Brazil
Romualdo Formation
Fossil taxa described in 1989
Taxa named by Alexander Kellner
Tupi–Guarani languages