The largest flying reptile from Gondwana: a new specimen of Tropeognathus cf. T. mesembrinusWellnhofer, 1987 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and other large pterosaurs from the Romualdo Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Brazil

Alexander W A Kellner,Helder P Silva,Lilian A Cruz,Taissa Rodrigues,Fabiana R Costa,Juliana M Sayão,Diogenes A Campos,Antônio A.F Saraiva,Jennyfer S Ferreira,Gustavo Oliveira

doi:10.1590/s0001-37652013000100009

Abstract

A very large pterosaur (MN 6594-V) from the Romualdo Formation (Aptian/Albian), Santana Group, Araripe Basin, is described. The specimen is referred to Tropeognathus cf. T. mesembrinus mainly due to the presence of a low and blunt frontoparietal crest, the comparatively low number of teeth and the inclined dorsal part of the occipital region. Two distinct wingspan measurements for pterosaurs are introduced: the maximized wingspan (maxws), which essentially consists of doubling the addition of all wing elements and the length of the scapula or the coracoid (the smaller of the two), and the normal wingspan (nws), which applies a reducing factor (rfc) to the maximized wingspan to account for the natural flexures of the wing. The rfc suggested for pteranodontoids is 5%. In the case of MN 6594-V, the maxws and nws are 8.70 m and 8.26 m, respectively, making it the largest pterosaur recovered from Gondwana so far. The distal end of a larger humerus (MCT 1838-R) and a partial wing (MPSC R 1395) are also described showing that large to giant flying reptiles formed a significant part of the pterosaur fauna from the Romualdo Formation. Lastly, some comments on the nomenclatural stability of the Santana deposits are presented.

Highlights

The pterosaur fauna from the Araripe Basin is worldwide known for the comparatively large number of specimens with exceptional preser vation (e.g., Price 1971, Wellnhofer 1991a, Kellner and Campos 2002), occasionally including soft tissue (e.g., Kellner 1996, Frey et al 2003b)
Since the members of the main other clade represented in the Romualdo Formation, the Tapejaridae, possess a quadrangular distal end of the humerus (e.g., Kellner 2003), this specimen is tentatively referred to the Anhangueridae
MN 6594-V is referred to Tropeognathus cf

Summary

Introduction

The pterosaur fauna from the Araripe Basin is worldwide known for the comparatively large number of specimens with exceptional preser vation (e.g., Price 1971, Wellnhofer 1991a, Kellner and Campos 2002), occasionally including soft tissue (e.g., Kellner 1996, Frey et al 2003b). The material (MN 6594-V) includes several parts of the skull, lower jaw and postcranial elements that are referred to the anhanguerid pterodactyloid Tropeognathus cf T. mesembrinus Wellnhofer, 1987. The dorsal portion of the occiput is more inclined and concave than in Anhanguera (e.g., Kellner and Tomida 2000) and similar to Tropeognathus mesembrinus (Wellnhofer 1987).

Results

Conclusion