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Banguela, new pterosaur from Early Cretaceous of Brazil



From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


A new online paper:


Jaime A. Headden & Hebert B.N. Campos (2014)
An unusual edentulous pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Romualdo
Formation of Brazil.
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
DOI:10.1080/08912963.2014.904302
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2014.904302#.U2AL8fldXeI



Numerous taxa make up the Early Cretaceous fauna of Brazil, including
Ornithocheiroidea, Tapejaridae, Thalassodromidae, Chaoyangopteridae
and a purported member of Azhdarchidae. Dsungaripteridae has only been
tentatively assumed to be present in the form of ‘Santanadactylus’
spixi. New study of NMSG SAO 251093 (a specimen referred to
Thalassodromeus sethi) suggests it is a previously unknown species of
dsungaripterid, Banguela oberlii, tax. nov., differing from
Thalassodromeus and other pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of
Brazil by a unique combination of characters, including an upturned
jaw tip, a short dorsal mandibular symphyseal shelf (dmss), and an
autapomorphic thin crest placed halfway along the fused mandibular
symphysis without a keel along the ventral margin of the jaw. B.
oberlii, tax. nov., is referred to Dsungaripteridae based on a dmss no
longer than the ventral shelf, U-shaped caudal margin of the ventral
shelf and lateral margins of the mandibular symphysis concave in
dorsal view. B. oberlii, tax. nov., is the youngest known
dsungaripterid, and expands known morphological diversity in the clade
as well as the Early Cretaceous pterosaur fauna of South America.