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Reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus, a purported Triassic pterosaur from southern Brazil with the description of a new taxon.
PeerJ. 2022; 10:e13276.P

Abstract

Faxinalipterus minimus was originally described as a purported pterosaur from the Late Triassic (early Norian) Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. Its holotype comprises fragmentary postcranial elements, whereas a partial maxilla was referred to the species. The assignment of Faxinalipterus minimus to Pterosauria has been questioned by some studies, but the specimen has never been accessed in detail after its original description. Here we provide a reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus after additional mechanical preparation of the holotype. Our interpretations on the identity of several bones differ from those of the original description, and we found no support favoring pterosaur affinities for the taxon. The maxilla previously referred to Faxinalipterus minimus is disassociated from this taxon and referred to a new putative pterosauromorph described here from a partial skull and fragmentary postcranial elements. Maehary bonapartei gen. et sp. nov. comes from the same fossiliferous site that yielded Faxinalipterus minimus, but the lack of overlapping bones hampers comparisons between the two taxa. Our phylogenetic analysis places Faxinalipterus minimus within Lagerpetidae and Maehary bonapartei gen. et sp. nov. as the earliest-diverging member of Pterosauromorpha. Furthermore, the peculiar morphology of the new taxon reveals a new dental morphotype for archosaurs, characterized by conical, unserrated crowns, with a pair of apicobasally oriented grooves. These two enigmatic archosaurs expand our knowledge on the Caturrita Formation fauna and reinforce the importance of its beds on the understanding of Late Triassic ecosystems.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Kellner AWA
Laboratório de Sistemática e Tafonomia de Vertebrados Fósseis, Setor de Paleovertebrados, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Holgado B
Laboratório de Sistemática e Tafonomia de Vertebrados Fósseis, Setor de Paleovertebrados, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain.
Grillo O
Laboratório de Sistemática e Tafonomia de Vertebrados Fósseis, Setor de Paleovertebrados, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Pretto FA
Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, São João do Polêsine, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Kerber L
Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, São João do Polêsine, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Pinheiro FL
Laboratório de Paleobiologia, Universidade Federal do Pampa, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Soares MB
Laboratório de Sistemática e Tafonomia de Vertebrados Fósseis, Setor de Paleovertebrados, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Schultz CL
Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Lopes RT
Laboratório de Instrumentação Nuclear, Programa de Engenharia Nuclear, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Araújo O
Laboratório de Instrumentação Nuclear, Programa de Engenharia Nuclear, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Müller RT
Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, São João do Polêsine, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

MeSH

AnimalsPhylogenyFossilsDinosaursBrazilEcosystemSkull

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

35529502

Citation

Kellner, Alexander W A., et al. "Reassessment of Faxinalipterus Minimus, a Purported Triassic Pterosaur From Southern Brazil With the Description of a New Taxon." PeerJ, vol. 10, 2022, pp. e13276.
Kellner AWA, Holgado B, Grillo O, et al. Reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus, a purported Triassic pterosaur from southern Brazil with the description of a new taxon. PeerJ. 2022;10:e13276.
Kellner, A. W. A., Holgado, B., Grillo, O., Pretto, F. A., Kerber, L., Pinheiro, F. L., Soares, M. B., Schultz, C. L., Lopes, R. T., Araújo, O., & Müller, R. T. (2022). Reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus, a purported Triassic pterosaur from southern Brazil with the description of a new taxon. PeerJ, 10, e13276. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13276
Kellner AWA, et al. Reassessment of Faxinalipterus Minimus, a Purported Triassic Pterosaur From Southern Brazil With the Description of a New Taxon. PeerJ. 2022;10:e13276. PubMed PMID: 35529502.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus, a purported Triassic pterosaur from southern Brazil with the description of a new taxon. AU - Kellner,Alexander W A, AU - Holgado,Borja, AU - Grillo,Orlando, AU - Pretto,Flávio Augusto, AU - Kerber,Leonardo, AU - Pinheiro,Felipe Lima, AU - Soares,Marina Bento, AU - Schultz,Cesar Leandro, AU - Lopes,Ricardo Tadeu, AU - Araújo,Olga, AU - Müller,Rodrigo Temp, Y1 - 2022/05/03/ PY - 2021/11/05/received PY - 2022/03/24/accepted PY - 2022/5/9/entrez PY - 2022/5/10/pubmed PY - 2022/5/10/medline KW - Archosauria KW - Brazil KW - Pterosauromorpha KW - Rio Grande do Sul KW - Santa Maria Supersequence KW - Triassic SP - e13276 EP - e13276 JF - PeerJ JO - PeerJ VL - 10 N2 - Faxinalipterus minimus was originally described as a purported pterosaur from the Late Triassic (early Norian) Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. Its holotype comprises fragmentary postcranial elements, whereas a partial maxilla was referred to the species. The assignment of Faxinalipterus minimus to Pterosauria has been questioned by some studies, but the specimen has never been accessed in detail after its original description. Here we provide a reassessment of Faxinalipterus minimus after additional mechanical preparation of the holotype. Our interpretations on the identity of several bones differ from those of the original description, and we found no support favoring pterosaur affinities for the taxon. The maxilla previously referred to Faxinalipterus minimus is disassociated from this taxon and referred to a new putative pterosauromorph described here from a partial skull and fragmentary postcranial elements. Maehary bonapartei gen. et sp. nov. comes from the same fossiliferous site that yielded Faxinalipterus minimus, but the lack of overlapping bones hampers comparisons between the two taxa. Our phylogenetic analysis places Faxinalipterus minimus within Lagerpetidae and Maehary bonapartei gen. et sp. nov. as the earliest-diverging member of Pterosauromorpha. Furthermore, the peculiar morphology of the new taxon reveals a new dental morphotype for archosaurs, characterized by conical, unserrated crowns, with a pair of apicobasally oriented grooves. These two enigmatic archosaurs expand our knowledge on the Caturrita Formation fauna and reinforce the importance of its beds on the understanding of Late Triassic ecosystems. SN - 2167-8359 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/35529502/Reassessment_of_Faxinalipterus_minimus_a_purported_Triassic_pterosaur_from_southern_Brazil_with_the_description_of_a_new_taxon_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -