''Maaradactylus'' is a
genus of
anhanguerid pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the
Lower Cretaceous period (
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
to
Albian stages) of the
Romualdo Formation of northeastern
Brazil.
Discovery
''Maaradactylus'' is
based on the Museu Paleontologico de Santana do Cariri specimen MPSC R 2357, a skull,
atlas, and
axis discovered in 2010 in the
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
—
Albian-age Romualdo Formation of Sítio São Gonçalo,
Santana do Cariri
Santana do Cariri is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. It is located in the immediate and intermediate region of Juazeiro do Norte, as well as in the region of influence of Juazeiro do Norte.The municipality ...
,
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
, in the Araripe Basin of Brazil.
''Maaradactylus'' was described by Renan Bantim and colleagues in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
. The
type species is ''Maaradactylus kellneri''. The generic name refers to Maara, in the legends of the
Cariri
Kiriri people are indigenous people of Eastern Brazil. Their name is also spelled Cariri or Kariri and is a Tupi word meaning "silent" or "tactiturn."
History
The French Capuchin missionary Martin of Nantes (1638–1714) was the apostle of the ...
the daughter of a chief, by sorcery changed into a river monster with long teeth, devouring fishermen. The suffix ~''dactylus'' is common in the names of pterosaurs and is derived from Greek δάκτυλος, ''daktylos'', "finger", referring to the long (fourth) wing finger. The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
honors
Alexander Kellner, Brazil's foremost pterosaur expert.
In 2019, the species ''
Coloborhynchus spielbergi'', also assigned as ''
Anhanguera spielbergi'', was reassigned to ''Maaradactylus'' by Megan L. Jacobs and colleagues as ''M. spielbergi''.
This species was named after the filmmaker
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
, the director of ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'' by André J. Veldmeijer. The holotype of this species was prepared from a chunk of limestone of Albian-age originating from the Romualdo Member of the
Santana Formation in Brazil and has been part of the collection of
Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands since 1992.
A replica is on display in one of the museum exhibitions.
Description
''Maaradactylus'' had one of the largest anhanguerid skulls from the
Santana Group, and this indicated a wingspan estimate of about . This
anhanguerid also has a relatively tall crest running along the midline of the
premaxillary bones, which make up most of the upper beak region, and placements for 35 pairs of teeth in the upper jaws.
[
The formerly known ''Coloborhynchus spielbergi'' (alternatively ''Anhanguera spielbergi''), now ''Maaradactylus spielbergi'', had rounded crests at the ends of expanded upper and lower jaws, similar to the related ]ornithocheirid
Ornithocheiridae (or ornithocheirids, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cr ...
s.[Veldmeijer, A.J., H.J.M. Meijer, and M. Signore (2006). "''Coloborhynchus'' from the Lower Cretaceous Santana Formation, Brazil (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae); an update." ''PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology'', 3(2): 15–29.] However, rather than the crests being robust and box-shaped as seen in many ornithocheirid genera, the jaw tips were more slender and spoon-shaped, and the crest is thin from top to bottom, both features commonly seen in anhanguerid species typically referred to the genus ''Anhanguera'', a genus in which ''M. speilbergi'' was classified by some researchers as ''A. spielbergi''. As in other ornithocheirids, the size and orientation of the teeth vary considerably along the jawline. In ''M. spielbergi'', the tooth pattern has been described as more similar to ''Anhanguera'' rather than to ''Tropeognathus''.
Classification
A topology recovered by Jacobs ''et al.'' in 2019 recovered ''Maaradactylus'' within the family Anhangueridae, and as the sister taxon of several ''Anhanguera'' species. Their cladogram is shown on the left. In 2020 however, a study by Borja Holgado and Rodrigo Pêgas had recovered ''Maaradactylus'' as the sister taxon of '' Cearadactylus'', both belonging to the subfamily Anhanguerinae
Anhangueridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were among the last pterosaurs to possess teeth. A recent study discussing the group considered the Anhangueridae to be typified by a premaxillary crest and a late ...
. Their cladogram is shown on the right.
Topology 1: Jacobs ''et al.'' (2019).
Topology 2: Holgado & Pêgas (2020).
See also
* List of pterosaur genera
* Timeline of pterosaur research
References
{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, Brazil
Pteranodontoids
Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of South America
Cretaceous Brazil
Fossils of Brazil
Romualdo Formation
Fossil taxa described in 2014