About: Spec Pterosauria: Tapejardae

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About: Spec Pterosauria: Tapejardae Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

Today, Spec pterosaur biota is dominated primarily by hastazhdarchine azhdarchids and nyctosaurids, with a few odd clades like carnocursorines and anatochasmines occuring here and there. All these forms belong to two main clades, Pteranodontia and Azhdarchidae, the pterosaurs that seemingly dominated terminal Cretaceous reccords on both worlds, Other pterosaurs, even the closely related clades, were thought to have been disappeared long in the poorly understood extinction events of the mid-Cretaceous, and as such to never have witnessed the start of the Mesozoic. Imagine the specologists' surprise, then, when they came across the exquisite lagerstattën of the Eocene, such as the Messel Pit. Here, while the familiar Maastrichtian pterosaurs were present, the dominant pterosaurs belonged to

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rdfs:label	Spec Pterosauria: Tapejardae
rdfs:comment	Today, Spec pterosaur biota is dominated primarily by hastazhdarchine azhdarchids and nyctosaurids, with a few odd clades like carnocursorines and anatochasmines occuring here and there. All these forms belong to two main clades, Pteranodontia and Azhdarchidae, the pterosaurs that seemingly dominated terminal Cretaceous reccords on both worlds, Other pterosaurs, even the closely related clades, were thought to have been disappeared long in the poorly understood extinction events of the mid-Cretaceous, and as such to never have witnessed the start of the Mesozoic. Imagine the specologists' surprise, then, when they came across the exquisite lagerstattën of the Eocene, such as the Messel Pit. Here, while the familiar Maastrichtian pterosaurs were present, the dominant pterosaurs belonged to
dcterms:subject	Spec Dinosauria Spec Dinosauria Pterosaurs Pterosaurs
abstract	Today, Spec pterosaur biota is dominated primarily by hastazhdarchine azhdarchids and nyctosaurids, with a few odd clades like carnocursorines and anatochasmines occuring here and there. All these forms belong to two main clades, Pteranodontia and Azhdarchidae, the pterosaurs that seemingly dominated terminal Cretaceous reccords on both worlds, Other pterosaurs, even the closely related clades, were thought to have been disappeared long in the poorly understood extinction events of the mid-Cretaceous, and as such to never have witnessed the start of the Mesozoic. Imagine the specologists' surprise, then, when they came across the exquisite lagerstattën of the Eocene, such as the Messel Pit. Here, while the familiar Maastrichtian pterosaurs were present, the dominant pterosaurs belonged to another, far unexpected clade, the ever bizarre Tapejaridae. Tapejarids are part of the same clade of pterosaurs that include the more renowed azhdarchids, Azhdarchoidea, being among the most basal members. Known primarily from the Lower Cretaceous from as far back as the Barremian, their history most likely extends even further back in time, as the earliest known tapejarid, †Europejara, is already a quite derived animal, showcasing the strange jaw anatomy and crests the clade is fabled for. Tapejarids, much like azhdarchids (and the most common contemporary azhdarchoid clade, the chaoyangopterids), seemingly enjoyed a global distribution, with Cretaceous fossils being found in Eurasia, South America and Africa, occuring in a variety of environs from denses forests to scrubby outback. Known from lagerstattën such as the Liaoning complex, many tapejarid fossils offer a good glimpse at pterodactyloid biology, with their pycnofibril pelages, wing membranes, keratinous beaks, crests and claw sheaths and even their mammal-like footpads being well preserved in several specimens.

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