''Tapejara'' (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 **Ge ...

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'', 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 specim ...

.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

Cast of Tapejara wellnhoferi - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

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'', ''

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 D ...

'', and '' Tupandactylus''.

Paleobiology

Comparisons between the

scleral ring Sclerotic rings are rings of bone found in the eyes of many animals in several groups of vertebrates, except for mammals and crocodilians. They can be made up of single bones or multiple segments and take their name from the sclera. They are beli ...

s 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.

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

Species and classification

Paleobiology

See also

References