Tapejara wellnhoferi

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Tapejara
Temporal range: Aptian-Albian,
112 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
↓
Tapejara.jpg
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Family: †Tapejaridae
Subfamily: †Tapejarinae
Tribe: †Tapejarini
Genus: †Tapejara
Kellner, 1989
Species:
†T. wellnhoferi
Binomial name
†Tapejara wellnhoferi
Kellner, 1989

Tapejara (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being"; the "J" is pronounced the same as in English) is a genus of Brazilian pterosaur from the Cretaceous Period (Santana Formation, dating to about 112 million years ago). Tapejara crests consisted of a semicircular crest over the snout, and a bony prong which extended back behind the head.

Species and classification[]

Reconstructed profiles of Tapejara wellnhoferi (A), Tupandactylus navigans (B), and Tupandactylus imperator (C)

The type species and only one currently recognized as valid by most researchers, is T. wellnhoferi. The specific name honors German paleontologist Peter Wellnhofer. 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 and Diogenes de Almeida Campos.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

Cast

The cladogram below follows a phylogenetic analysis by Kellner, the describer of Tapejara, and colleagues in 2019. They recovered Tapejara within the Tapejarini (a tribe within the family Tapejaridae), sister taxon to three other genera: Europejara, Caiuajara, and Tupandactylus.[5]

Tapejaromorpha
 

Keresdrakon vilsoni

 
Tapejaridae
Thalassodrominae
 

Thalassodromeus sethi

 
 

Tupuxuara leonardii

 
 
Tapejarinae
 

Caupedactylus ybaka

 
 
 

Aymberedactylus cearensis

 
 
 
 

Eopteranodon lii

 
 

"Huaxiapterus" benxiensis

 
 

"Huaxiapterus" corollatus

 
 

Sinopterus dongi

 
 
Tapejarini
 

Europejara olcadesorum

 
 

Caiuajara dobruskii

 
 

Tapejara wellnhoferi

 
 

Tupandactylus imperator

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Paleobiology[]

Comparisons between the scleral rings of Tapejara and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been cathemeral, active throughout the day at short intervals.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Kellner, A.W.A.; Campos, D.A. (2007). "Short note on the ingroup relationships of the Tapejaridae (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea". Boletim do Museu Nacional. 75: 1–14.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Naish, D. (2008). "Crato Formation fossils and the new tapejarids." Weblog entry. Tetrapod Zoology. January 18, 2008. Accessed January 31, 2008 ("Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)).
  4. ^ Pinheiro, Felipe L.; Fortier, Daniel C.; Schultz, Cesar L.; De Andrade, José Artur F.G.; Bantim, Renan A.M. (2011). "New information on Tupandactylus imperator, with comments on the relationships of Tapejaridae (Pterosauria)". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (3): 567–580. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0057.
  5. ^ Kellner, Alexander W. A.; Weinschütz, Luiz C.; Holgado, Borja; Bantim, Renan A. M.; Sayão, Juliana M. (August 19, 2019). "A new toothless pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea) from Southern Brazil with insights into the paleoecology of a Cretaceous desert". Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 91 (suppl 2): e20190768. doi:10.1590/0001-3765201920190768. ISSN 0001-3765. PMID 31432888.
  6. ^ Schmitz, L.; Motani, R. (2011). "Nocturnality in dinosaurs inferred from scleral ring and orbit morphology". Science. 332 (6030): 705–8. Bibcode:2011Sci...332..705S. doi:10.1126/science.1200043. PMID 21493820. S2CID 33253407.
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