Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Pêgas, Rodrigo Vargas
• Leal, Maria Eduarda de Castro
• Kellner, Alexander Wilhelm Armin
• Wong, William Oki

Titel

A Basal Tapejarine (Pterosauria; Pterodactyloidea; Tapejaridae) from the Crato Formation, Early Cretaceous of Brazil

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2016-09, Vol.11 (9), p.e0162692-e0162692

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A three-dimensional and almost complete pterosaur mandible from the Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous of Northeastern Brazil), Araripe Basin, is described as a new species of a tapejarine tapejarid. Tapejarines are a particular group of toothless pterosaurs, characterized by well-developed cranial crests, downturned rostra, and have been proposed to represent frugivorous flying reptiles. Though comparatively well represented and distributed, the evolutionary history of the group is still poorly known, and the internal relationships of its members are not well understood. The new species here reported, named Aymberedactylus cearensis gen. et sp. nov., adds new data concerning the evolution of the group, concerning their morphology and geographical origin. It differs from known tapejarids due to its unusually elongate retroarticular process and a shallow fossa on the splenial exhibiting distinctive rugose texture. Furthermore, it exhibits a suite of basal and derived conditions within the Tapejaridae, demonstrating how their morphological traits probably evolved and that these forms were even more diverse than already acknowledged. The discovery of Aymberedactylus cearensis sheds new light on the evolutionary history of the Tapejarinae.