A new crested pterosaur from the early cretaceous of Spain: the first European tapejarid (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea)
Entity
UAM. Departamento de BiologíaPublisher
Public Library of ScienceDate
2012-07-03Citation
10.1371/journal.pone.0038900
Plos One 7.7 (2012): e38900
ISSN
1932-6203 (online)DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0038900Funded by
AWAK acknowledges the Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ nos. E-26/102.779/2008 and E-26/111.273/2010) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq no. 307276/2009-0) for supporting research on pterosaurs, including the examination of the Las Hoyas specimen. This study was supported by the Project CGL2009-11838BTE of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the Junta de Castilla-La ManchaSubjects
Biological Evolution; Dinosaurs; Fossils; Pterodactyloidea; Biología y Biomedicina / BiologíaRights
© 2012 Vullo et al.Abstract
Background: The Tapejaridae is a group of unusual toothless pterosaurs characterized by bizarre cranial crests. From a paleoecological point of view, frugivorous feeding habits have often been suggested for one of its included clades, the Tapejarinae. So far, the presence of these intriguing flying reptiles has been unambiguously documented from Early Cretaceous sites in China and Brazil, where pterosaur fossils are less rare and fragmentary than in similarly-aged European strata. Methodology/Principal Findings: Europejara olcadesorum gen. et sp. nov. is diagnosed by a unique combination of characters including an unusual caudally recurved dentary crest. It represents the oldest known member of Tapejaridae and the oldest known toothless pterosaur. The new taxon documents the earliest stage of the acquisition of this anatomical feature during the evolutionary history of the Pterodactyloidea. This innovation may have been linked to the development of new feeding strategies. Conclusion/Significance: The discovery of Europejara in the Barremian of the Iberian Peninsula reveals an earlier and broader global distribution of tapejarids, suggesting a Eurasian origin of this group. It adds to the poorly known pterosaur fauna of the Las Hoyas locality and contributes to a better understanding of the paleoecology of this Konservat-Lagerstätte. Finally, the significance of a probable contribution of tapejarine tapejarids to the early angiosperm dispersal is discussed
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Google Scholar:Vullo, Romain
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Marugán Lobón, Jesús Carlos
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Delgado Buscalioni, Ángela
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Gomez, Bernard
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de la Fuente, Montserrat
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Moratalla, José J.
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Kellner, Alexander W. A.
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