OSTEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MIDDLE JURASSIC PTEROSAURS FROM PATAGONIA (ARGENTINA)

CODORNIÚ, L.; RAUHUT, O.; POL D.

ActaGeoscientifica Sinica

Cagsbulletin, Beijing, China

Lugar: Beijing; Año: 2010

1006-3021

The Cañadon Asfalto Formation is mainly composed of lacustrine deposits and has provided the most diverse vertebrate fauna known for the Middle Jurassic in the Southern Hemisphere. Pterosaur remains have been discovered from several localities in this unit and briefly reported. Here we present further information on these remains that include abundant and three dimensionally preserved cranial and postcranial material of several individuals found closely associated in a single locality, as well as two humeri and a scapulacoracoid found in the same horizon but 22 meters away. The pterosaur specimens are preserved in a silicified limestone, associated with stromatolite fragments, probably representing a tempestite deposit. Assuming all these elements belong to a single species, the new taxon from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia would bear a unique combination of plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters that makes it highly relevant for understanding the origins of pterodactyloid pterosaurs