Wellnhopterus
Wellnhopterus | |
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Illustration of TMM 42489-2 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
Family: | †Azhdarchidae |
Subfamily: | † Quetzalcoatlinae
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Genus: | †Wellnhopterus Andres and Langston Jr., 2021 |
Type species | |
†Wellnhopterus brevirostris Andres and Langston Jr., 2021
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Synonyms | |
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Wellnhopterus (lit. '
Discovery and naming
In March 1986, jaws and neck vertebrae of a large pterosaur were discovered in
The holotype, TMM 42489-2, was found in a layer of the Javelina Formation dating from the middle Maastrichtian. It consists of the front of the paired premaxillae, the paired maxillae and jugals, the front of the mandibular symphysis of the lower jaws and the dentary rami. The remains had been partially articulated. In December 2021, the complete specimen, including the jaws and the cervical vertebrae, were named by Brian Andres and posthumously Wann Langston Jr. as the type species of a short-snouted azhdarchid, Wellnhopterus brevirostris. The generic name, Wellnhopterus is Wellnhofer’s name combined with the Greek pteron, meaning "Wellnhofer's wing", and the specific name, brevirostris meaning "short-beaked" is a combination of the Latin words brevis, meaning short, and rostrum, meaning beak, in reference to its description in the literature as a “short-faced animal”.[2]
"Javelinadactylus"
In July 2021, the type species "Javelinadactylus sagebieli" was named and described by
"The editors have retracted this article, because the author did not have the ownership of the data reported. This was confirmed by the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, this article described a new species that was based on photographs of specimen TMM 42489-2. This specimen has been described and named, as Wellnhopterus brevirostris, gen. et sp. nov., in a different article that was submitted for publication prior to the submission of this article, and itself was part of a larger study. Hebert Bruno Nascimento Campos agrees to this retraction. The online version of this article contains the full text of the retracted article as Supplementary Information."[1]
Classification
Andres and Langston Jr. recovered the taxon as an azhdarchid.[2]
Phylogeny after Andres, 2021:[9]
Azhdarchoidea |
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Paleobiology
Wellnhopterus was likely raptorial, as "blunt-jawed" azhdarchids are thought to have been specialised to hunt proportionally large prey.[8][10][11] Its co-existence with Quetzalcoatlus and a possible additional pterosaur taxon have been used as examples of pterosaur diversity being higher in the Maastrichtian than traditionally thought.[12]