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
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 ...
pterosaurs
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. Its traditional members come from
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 ...
, however, other possible members also come from other places, including the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. Thalassodrominae is considered either to be a
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
within the pterosaur
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Tapejaridae
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 primiti ...
, or as a distinct family, Thalassodromidae, within the clade
Neoazhdarchia
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 ...
, closely related to
dsungaripterid
Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings.
Classification
In 1964 Young created a family to place the recentl ...
s or
azhdarchid
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cret ...
s.
Classification
Thalassodrominae traditionally includes only two genera, ''
Thalassodromeus
''Thalassodromeus'' is a genus of pterosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period, about a hundred million years ago. The original skull, discovered in 1983 in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil, was collect ...
'' and ''
Tupuxuara
''Tupuxuara'' is a genus of large, crested, and toothless Pterodactyloidea, pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Albian stage) of what is now the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group, Brazil, about 125 to 112 million ye ...
'', 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 to the
azhdarchids
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...
than to the
tapejarids
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 ...
,
[Lü, J., Unwin, D.M., Xu, L., and Zhang, X. (2008). "A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China and its implications for pterosaur phylogeny and evolution." ''Naturwissenschaften'',] and have placed them in their own family (which has sometimes been referred to as Tupuxuaridae,
[Martill, D.M., Bechly, G., and Heads, S.W. (2007). "Appendix: species list for the Crato Formation." In: Martill, D.M., Bechly, G., and Loveridge, R.F. (eds.), 2007. ''The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Pp. 582–607.] though Thalassodrominae was named first
[). Alternately, they have been considered a family within the clade ]Neoazhdarchia
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 ...
, as Thalassodromidae.
Below are three alternate cladograms resulting from studies of azhdarchoid relationships. The first, presented by Felipe Pinheiro and colleagues in 2011, found the thalassodromines as a subgroup within the Tapejaridae.[Pinheiro, F.L., Fortier, D.C., Schultz, C.L., De Andrade, J.A.F.G. and Bantim, R.A.M. (in press). "New information on ''Tupandactylus imperator'', with comments on the relationships of Tapejaridae (Pterosauria)." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', in press, available online 03 Jan 2011. ] The second, presented by Lü and colleagues in 2008, found them to be closer to the Azhdarchidae, though they used the name Tupuxuaridae for the group.[ The third, presented by Brian Andres, James Clark and Xu Xing in 2014, also found thalassodromines closer to azhdarchids, and as the sister group of the ]dsungaripterid
Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings.
Classification
In 1964 Young created a family to place the recentl ...
s.
More recently, the Late Cretaceous genera ''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 ...
'' and ''Aerotitan
''Aerotitan'' is a genus of large azhdarchid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of what is now the Allen Formation of the Neuquén Basin in northern Patagonia, Argentina.
Discovery and naming
The type species ...
'', typically considered azhdarchids, have been recovered as thalassodromines (the group is defined as Thalassodromidae in the study). However, their remains are fragmentary, so this assignment is only tentative, and a 2021 study further show dissimilarities between them and azhdarchids, with ''Aerotitan'' being a true azhdarchid while ''Alanqa'' was a basal azhdarchoid related to ''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 spe ...
''. Similarly, the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
'' Javelinadactylus'' has been proposed to be a thalassodromine, although previous assessments of the material have favored an azhdarchid identity over a thalassodromine one.[Mark P. Witton (2013), Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-15061-1] This same study also recovers ''Argentinadraco
''Argentinadraco'' (meaning "Argentina dragon") is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation of Argentina. It contains a single species, ''A. barrealensis'', named in 2017 by Alexander Kellner and Jo ...
'' (already of uncertain affinities) as a thalassodromine as well.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7709559
Tapejaromorphs
Albian first appearances
Maastrichtian extinctions