Tendaguripterus

Taxobox
name = "Tendaguripterus"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Jurassic
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Pterodactyloidea
superfamilia = Dsungaripteroidea
genus = "Tendaguripterus"
binomial = "Tendaguripterus recki"
binomial_authority = Unwin and Heinrich, 1999

"Tendaguripterus" (meaning "Tendaguru wing") was a genus of dsungaripteroid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Middle Saurian Beds of Tendaguru, Mtwara Region, Tanzania. It is based on MB.R.1290, a partial mandible with teeth (the symphyseal region, where the two halves of the lower jaw meet). The teeth in the posterior section of the jaw point backwards. Overall, this would have been a small pterosaur; the skull length is estimated at 20 centimeters (7.9 inches), and the wingspan at around 100 cm (39.4 in). This specimen is the first report of pterosaur cranial material from Tendaguru.cite journal |last=Unwin |first=David M. |authorlink=David M. Unwin |coauthors=and Heinrich, Wolf-Dieter |year=1999 |title=On a pterosaur jaw from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania) |journal=Mitteilungen aus dem Museum Für Naturkunde in Berlin Geowissenschaftliche Reihe |volume=2 |pages=121–134 ] It is regarded as a dsungaripteroid (of uncertain affinities),cite book |last=Glut |first=Donald F. |authorlink=Donald F. Glut |title=Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. 4th Supplement |year=2006 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=0-7864-2295-5 |pages=p. 631 |chapter=Tendaguripterus] cite book |last=Unwin |first=David M. |authorlink=David M. Unwin |title=The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time |year=2006 |publisher=Pi Press |location=New York |isbn=ISBN 0-13-146308-X |pages=p. 273] meaning it may have fed on crabs and other shellfish.cite book |last=Unwin |first=David M. |authorlink=David M. Unwin |title=The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time |year=2006 |pages=84-85 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.pterosaur.co.uk/species/UJP/german/Tendaguripterus.htm "Tendaguripterus"] in The Pterosaur Database
* [http://archosauria.org/pterosauria/taxonomy/genera/tendaguripterus.html "Tendaguripterus"] in The Pterosauria