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

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.

Comments on Triassic pterosaurs with discussion about ontogeny and description of new taxa

“…There is no feature that suggests that both specimens represent individuals of very distinct (if at all) ontogenetic stages (see Discussion). Yet regarding size, the maximized wingspan (maxws sensu Kellner et al 2013) of MPUM 6009 is around 465 mm and therefore considerably smaller than the holotype of Carniadactylus rosenfeldi (maxws -770 mm).…”

Nanotechnology and lung diseases, caterpillars and agriculture, a new fossil turtle egg type from China, and a giant flying reptile from Gondwana

“…Pterosaurs are rare, and despite the fact that remains of these volant vertebrates have been retrieved from several deposits around the world in the last decade, particularly from China (e.g., Jiang et al 2011), most remains are quite fragmentary (e.g., O'Conner et al 2011). The new specimen presented in this issue of the AABC had a wingspan of over 8 m and belongs to the largest flying reptile from any Gondwanan deposit known so far (Kellner et al 2013). Most pterosaur specimens represent young animals, and fully ontogenetic developed individuals are quite rare, making this find even more interesting.…”

Shrimps from the Santana Group (Cretaceous: Albian): new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Dendrobranchiata) and new record (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea)

“…Some investigators estimate the shales to be Aptian (Brito 1984, Wellnhofer 1985, while others consider them to be Aptian-Albian (Arai et al 2000), Albian (Campos andWenz 1982, Berthou 1990), or possibly Turonian (Beurlen 1962). The temporal range variation estimated for the Santana Group is 30 myr (see Kellner et al 2013 for a review), which makes a precise dating very controversial, and imposes a time chart to be followed to identify each fossil find. In this study, we followed the stratigraphy proposed by Valença et al (2003) regarding the time and nomenclatural questions about the basin, especially to the stratigraphic units of the Santana Group, where the fossiliferous assemblage of Romualdo Formation is located.…”