Tupuxuara
Tupuxuara | ||||||||||||
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Tupuxuara , graphic reconstruction |
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Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
Albium ( Lower Cretaceous ) | ||||||||||||
110 million years | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Tupuxuara | ||||||||||||
Kellner & Campos , 1989 |
Tupuxuara was a short-tailed pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea). Its fossil remains were found in the Santana Formation in Brazil . He lived in the early Cretaceous period about 110 million years ago. The animals had large combs on their skulls, which were perhaps a sexual characteristic and played a role in courtship. In the females, the combs had a more rounded shape. The first juvenile specimen was found in 2006 by scientists at the University of Portsmouth in north-east Brazil. The crest of his skull was not fully developed. Like most pterosaurs, Tupuxuara was a fish eater.
There are three types:
- Tupuxuara leonardi , described in 1991 by the paleontologist LA Nesov. It had a wingspan of about 5.5 meters and a skull length of 1.3 meters.
- Tupuxuara longicristatus , described by AWA Kellner in 1989. Only a part of the skull and a few wing bones are known of this species.
- Tupuxuara deliradamus ,describedby Mark Witton in2009. The description was based on a skull find
literature
- Alexander WA Kellner: A new edentate pterosaur of the Lower Cretaceous from the Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil. In: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. Vol. 61, No. 4, 1989, ISSN 0001-3765 , pp. 439-446.
- Лев А. Несов: Гигантские летающие ящеры семейства Azhdarchidae. I. Морфология, систематика. In: Вестник Ленинградского университета. Series 7: Геология, География. Vol. 2, No. 14, 1991, ISSN 0024-0834 , pp. 14-23.
Individual evidence
- ^ Witton, MP (2009). "A new species of Tupuxuara (Thalassodromidae, Azhdarchoidea) from the Lower Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil, with a note on the nomenclature of Thalassodromidae", Cretaceous Research
Web links
Commons : Tupuxuara - collection of images, videos and audio files