The Late Jurassic pterosaurs from Northern Patagonia, Argentina

CODORNIÚ L. AND Z. GASPARINI

Special Issue: The Full profession: A celebration of the Life and career of Wang Langston, Jr. Quintessential Vertebrate Paleontologist

Edinburgh

Lugar: Earth and Environmental Science,Transactions of the Royal Society ; Año: 2013; p. 399 - 408

Records of flying Jurassic reptiles are very scarce in the Southern Hemisphere. Upper Jurassic pterosaurs have been discovered in marine Tithonian sedimentites of the Vaca Muerta Formation, in the Neuquén Basin, Patagonia, Argentina. Only four specimens are known so far: the first from Arroyo Picún Leufú, and the other three from the lithographic limestones of Los Catutos. Here we update knowledge of Late Jurassic pterosaurs from northwest Patagonia. We revise the diagnosis and description of a previously described pterodactyloid, which we name as a new genus and species, Wenupteryx uzi. This small sized pterosaur shows affinities with Euctenochasmatia or Archaeopterodactyloidea, and represents the most complete Jurassic pterosaur so far known from the Southern Hemisphere. We also report a recent finding suggesting that the new specimen belongs to a new species of pterodactyloid pterosaur. These records show that at least three different taxa of pterosaurs coexisted in the Neuquén Basin: Herbstosaurus, Wenupteryx, and a more derived pterodactyloid that represents the largest pterosaur known from the Upper Jurassic of Gondwana.