- Tupuxuara
Taxobox
name = "Tupuxuara"
fossil_range =Late Cretaceous
image_width = 200px
image_caption = Life restoration of "Tupuxuara longicristatus"
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo =Pterosaur ia
subordo =Pterodactyloidea
superfamilia =Azhdarchoidea
genus = "Tupuxuara"
genus_authority = Kellner & Campos, 1988
subdivision_ranks =Species
subdivision = "T. longicristatus" Kellner & Campos, 1988 (type) "T. leonardi" Nessov, 1991"Tupuxuara" is a
genus of large, crested, toothlesspterosaur , originally described in 1988 from theCretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil byAlexander Kellner andDiogenes Campos ,Kellner, A.W.A., and Campos, D.A. (1988). "Sobre un novo pterossauro com crista sagital da Bacia do Araripe, Cretaceo Inferior do Nordeste do Brasil. (Pterosauria, Tupuxuara, Cretaceo, Brasil)." "Anais de Academia Brasileira de Ciências", 60: 459–469. [in Portuguese] ] but since reported from North America as well. It was superficially similar in appearance to "Pteranodon ", mature individuals having a swept back crest arising from the snout, but its crest was larger and more pronounced than that of "Pteranodon". Females of the species also had large crests, but their crests were more round. It is likely that "Tupuxuara" was a fish eater, and lived near the coasts ofSouth America . The skull of the "Tupuxuara" measured a length of 900mm, the length of the entire body was 2.5 meters, and had a wingspan of 5.4 meters. Among pterosaurs, "Tupuxuara" is part of a group termed theAzhdarchoidea , but within Azhdarchoidea there is a controversy as to whether "Tupuxuara" is closer to theazhdarchid s (the group that includes the giant Texan form "Quetzalcoatlus ") or to "Tapejara" and its relatives. The first juvenile, found by palaeontologists from theUniversity of Portsmouth in northeast Brazil and described byDavid Martill andDarren Naish in 2006 had not yet fully developed its crest, which supports the suggestion that the crest was a marker for sexual maturity.References
External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5221862.stm BBC News, " Flying reptile mystery 'solved'"] , 27 July 2006
* [http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/3104/tupuxuara3pb.jpgA reconstruction of "Tupuxuara".]
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