A medium-sized robust-necked azhdarchid pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae) from the Maastrichtian of Pui (Hațeg Basin, Transylvania, Romania)

Title Variants

Alternative: New pterosaur from Romania

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3827

By

Vremir, Mátyás , author

Witton, Mark P., 1984- , author
Naish, Darren. , author
Dyke, Gareth , author
Brusatte, Stephen , author
Norell, Mark A. , author
Totoianu, Radu , author

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, [2015]

Notes

Caption title.

"March 17, 2015."

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We describe a pterosaurian cervical vertebra collected from Maastrichtian sediments at the Pui locality in the Hațeg Basin, Romania. This specimen, a medium-sized, robust fourth cervical, is distinctive in morphology and represents a new, as yet unrecognized, azhdarchid pterosaur size class within the Haţeg Island fauna: it most likely belongs to a new taxon which we opt not to name here. The vertebra is referred to Azhdarchidae based on clearly preserved diagnostic features characteristic of this group and differs in proportions and anatomical details from the recently named azhdarchid Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis Vremir et al., 2013a, from the Sebeș region of the Transylvanian basin. We take issue with claims that all Maastrichtian Romanian azhdarchids (and other penecontemporaneous azhdarchids and azhdarchoids) should be uncritically assumed to be synonymous: it ignores anatomical characters that allow the specimens concerned to be differentiated and is based on an erroneous "one stratum, one species" philosophy contradicted by empirical data from other azhdarchoid assemblages. It has been suggested that the absence of small to medium-sized pterosaurs in Upper Cretaceous sediments is indicative of an evolutionary trend. However, evidence from the Hațeg Island fauna may indicate instead that smaller-sized pterosaurs were indeed present in this interval but remain underrepresented due to rare preservation and collection.

Subjects

Azhdarchidae , Cretaceous , Hațeg Region (Hunedoara) , Paleontology , Pterosauria , Reptiles, Fossil , Romania

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3827 2015

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 905034068