Unwindia
Unwindia Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
Clade: | †Ornithocheiromorpha |
Genus: | †Unwindia Martill, 2011 |
Species: | †U. trigonus
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Binomial name | |
†Unwindia trigonus Martill, 2011
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Unwindia is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Albian stage) of what is now modern-day Brazil.[1][2]
Discovery and naming
The German
In 2011, the specimen was named and described as the type species Unwindia trigonus by David Martill. The generic name honours the British pterosaur expert David Unwin. The specific name is derived from the Greek trigonos, "triangular", in reference to the triangular shape of the snout in cross-section.[1]
Description
The preserved length of the snout fragment of Unwindia is 221 mm (8.7 in). Martill estimated that the distance between the large opening in the skull side, the fenestra nasoantorbitalis, and the snout point had been 192 mm (7.6 in).
Martill indicated two distinguishing traits. The first of these is an
Classification
Martill concluded that Unwindia was a basal ctenochasmatoid, though without a phylogenetic analysis.[1] Witton in 2013 suggested that it could belong to the Lonchodectidae. This would make Unwindia the largest known member of the Lonchodectidae, as well as the first species of that group to be identified from the Southern Hemisphere.[3] In 2020 however, Russian paleontologist Alexander Averianov suggested that Unwindia did not belong to the Lonchodectidae.[4]
See also
References
- ^ .
- ^ "†Unwindia Martill 2011". Paleobiology Database. Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ a b Witton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy
- .