Fernando E Novas

Martin Kundrát, Per E. Ahlberg, Federico L Agnolin, Martin D Ezcurra, Alberto Arriagada, Pablo Chafrat

Academic paper

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription

32

6

1447-1452

South America has yielded abundant and diverse Early Cretaceous pterosaur remains, mainly from the highly productive Santana Group (Aptian�Albian) in the Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil (Kellner, 2001; Unwin and Martill, 2007). Several pterosaur taxa have been reported from these beds, including Tapejara, Tupuxuara, and Anhanguera as the most outstanding examples (Kellner, 2001). Another highly productive Lower Cretaceous South American pterosaur-bearing unit is the Lagarcito Formation (Albian) of central Argentina that has yielded a monospecific assemblage of the pterodactyloid Pterodaustro guinazui (Bonaparte, 1970; Chiappe et al., 1998; Codorni ´u and Gasparini, 2007). The La Amarga Formation (Barremian�early Aptian) in northwestern Patagonia has provided an isolated pterosaur femur (Montanelli, 1987) and the R´ıo Belgrano Formation (Barremian) in southern Patagonia has yielded an ulna and a probable partial wing metacarpal of a probable anhanguerid pteranodontoid (Kellner et al., 2003). In the Lower Cretaceous of Chile, a partial jaw with teeth and a proximal wing phalanx were assigned to an indeterminate ctenochasmatid (Martill et al., 2006). In addition, some fragmentary pterosaur remains have been reported from the Lower Cretaceous of Venezuela and Peru (Codorni ´u and Gasparini, 2007; Barrett et al., 2008). By contrast, the Late Cretaceous pterosaur bone record of South America is still scarce and restricted to a handful of fragmentary specimens, including remains referred to the nyctosaurid Nyctosaurus lamegoi from the Maastrichtian of Brazil (Price, 1953; Lima and Koutsoukos, 2006) and azhdarchoid long bones, probably from a taxon closely related to or a member of Azhdarchidae, from the Turonian�Coniacian Portezuelo Formation (Calvo and Lockley, 2001; Kellner et al., 2004, 2006; Apestegu´ıa et al., 2007; Codorni ´u and Gasparini, 2007). Here, we expand the meager record of Late Cretaceous S

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