On a new crested pterodactyloid from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula and the radiation of the clade Anhangueria

2019/03/20 by Borja Holgado, Rodrigo V. Pêgas, José Ignacio Canudo +3 · 17 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Ichthyology and Marine Biology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-41280-4

openalex publication_date 2019/03/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The pterosaur record from the Iberian Peninsula is mostly scarce and undefined, but in the last few years some new taxa have been described from different Lower Cretaceous sites of Spain. Here we describe a new genus and species of toothed pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian of the Iberian Peninsula, Iberodactylus andreui gen. et sp. nov., that shows a close and rather unexpected relationship with Hamipterus tianshanensis from China. A review of the phylogenetic relationships of the Anhangueria reveals a new family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs, the Hamipteridae fam. nov. being recovered as sister-group of the Anhangueridae. This latter clade can be in turn divided into the new clades Anhanguerinae and Coloborhynchinae. The close relationships of Iberodactylus and Hamipterus shows an interesting palaeobiogeographical correlation between the Chinese and Iberian pterosaur faunas during the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous). The discovery of Iberodactylus strongly suggests that the clade Anhangueria has clear ancestral ties in eastern Laurasia.

Citations

• A Cretaceous eutriconodont and integument evolution in early mammals
• The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group
• Egg accumulation with 3D embryos provides insight into the life history of a pterosaur

Cited by

• Azhdarchid pterosaur diversity in the Bayanshiree Formation, Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert, Mongolia
• A new toothless pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea) from Southern Brazil with insights into the paleoecology of a Cretaceous desert
• New anatomical information onDsungaripterus weiiYoung, 1964 with focus on the palatal region
• Sinomacrops bondei , a new anurognathid pterosaur from the Jurassic of China and comments on the group
• A long-billed, possible probe-feeding pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea: ?Azhdarchoidea) from the mid-Cretaceous of Morocco, North Africa
• A new istiodactylid pterosaur, Lingyuanopterus camposi gen. et sp. nov., from the Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China
• On the validity of the genus Amblydectes Hooley 1914 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and the presence of Tropeognathinae in the Cambridge Greensand
• A new species of crested pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) of Richmond, North West Queensland, Australia
• Azhdarchoidea [wikipedia]
• Caulkicephalus [wikipedia]
• Cearadactylus [wikipedia]
• Coloborhynchus [wikipedia]
• Eopteranodon [wikipedia]
• Guidraco [wikipedia]
• Iberodactylus [wikipedia]
• Ornithocheiromorpha [wikipedia]
• Tapejaridae [wikipedia]
• Tropeognathus [wikipedia]