Pterodactyloid pterosaur bones from cretaceous deposits of the antarctic peninsula

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner
  • Taissa Rodrigues
  • Fabiana R. Costa
  • Luiz C. Weinschütz
  • Rodrigo G. Figueiredo
  • Geovane A. DE SOUZA
  • Arthur S. Brum
  • Lúcia H.S. Eleutério
  • Müller, Carsten W.
  • Juliana M. Sayão

Fossil vertebrates from Antarctica are considerably rare, hampering our understanding of the evolutionary history of the biota from that continent. For several austral summers, the PALEOANTAR project has been carrying out fieldwork in the Antarctic Peninsula in search for fossils, particularly Cretaceous vertebrates. Among the specimens recovered so far are two bones referable to Pterosauria, more specifically to the Pterodacyloidea, the first volant reptiles from Antarctica to be fully described. MN 7800-V (part and counterpart) was recovered from a moraine at the Abernathy Flats (Santa Marta Formation, Lachman Crags Member, Santonian-Campanian) on James Ross Island. It is interpreted as the distal articulation of a first phalanx of the wing finger, representing an animal with an estimated wingspan between 3 and 4 m. The second specimen (MN 7801-V) comes from Vega Island (Snow Hill Island Formation, Maastrichtian) and is identified as a wing metacarpal IV of an animal with an estimated wingspan from 4 to 5 m. These occurrences show that pterodactyloids inhabited the Antarctic Peninsula at least during the Upper Cretaceous and demonstrate that large pterosaurs were widespread through all parts of the planet during that period.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere20191300
JournalAnais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias
Volume91
ISSN0001-3765
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, Cretaceous, PALEOANTAR, Pterosauria

ID: 238948480