Anhanguera
Name:
Anhanguera
(Old devil).
Phonetic: Ahn-han-gair-ah.
Named By: Campos & Kellner - 1985.
Synonyms: Araripesaurus santanae,
Cearadactylus ligabuei, Ornithocheirus cuvieri, Pterodactylus
fittoni, Santanadactylus araripensis, Tropeognathus robustus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiridae, Anhanguerinae.
Species: A. blittersdorffi (type)
A. piscator.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Up to 4.5 meter wingspan.
Known locations: Australia. Brazil - Santana
Formation. Russia. United Kingdom - Cambridge Greensand.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Many specimens known.
Like
Ornithocheirus,
Anhanguera had rounded crests on both the tip of
its
snout and lower jaw. Also the jaws broadened towards the tip with the
sharp thin teeth pointing outwards in what is often referred to as a
rosette. This arrangement greatly increased the 'catch area' for
Anhanguera as it flew over the water looking for
fish. Anhanguera
also had a smaller crest rising up from the back of its skull. This
is quite a common feature amongst the advanced pterosaurs,
though the
crests of ornithocherid pterosaurs were not as dramatic as others such
as Pteranodon
and Nyctosaurus.
With
remains of Anhanguera being recovered in so many
far reaching places,
it seems that Anhanguera had a cosmopolitan
distribution with the
genus being represented by different species all over. However many
of the species have since been found to represent other earlier named
species. Anhanguera is also similar to the
Chinese pterosaur
Liaoningopterus.
Further reading
- Panorama of the flying reptiles study in Brazil and South America. -
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 57(4):453-466. - D. de A.
Campos & A. W. A. Kellner - 1985.
- Un novo exemplar de Anhanguera blittersdorffi (Reptilia, Pterosauria)
da formaçao Santana, Cretaceo Inferior do Nordeste do Brasil [A new
example of Anhanguera blittersdorffi (Reptilia, pterosaur) from the
Santana Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Northeastern Brazil]. In
Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologia, Rio de Janeiro, Resumos, p. 13.
- - D. de A. Campos & A. W. A. Kellner - 1985.
- Description of a new species of Anhangueridae (Pterodactyloidea) with
comments on the pterosaurfauna from the Santana Formation
(Aptian–Albian), northeastern Brazil. - Tokyo, National Science Museum
(National Science Museum Monographs, 17). - A.W.A. Kellner & Y.
Tomida - 2000.
- Description of Coloborhynchus spielbergi sp. nov. (Pterodactyloidea)
from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil. - Scripta Geologica, 125:
35-139. - A. J. Veldmeijer - 2003.
- Anhanguera taxonomy revisited: is our
understanding of Santana Group
pterosaur diversity biased by poor biological and stratigraphic
control?. - PeerJ. 5: e3285. - F. L. Pinheiro & Taissa
Rodrigues - 2017.
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