Kingdom Animalia Suborder †Pterodactyloidea Phylum Chordata Rank Species | Class Reptilia Family †Anhangueridae Genus Anhanguera Order Pterosaurs | |
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Similar Anhanguera, Pterosaurs, Coloborhynchus, Santanadactylus, Araripesaurus | ||
Anhanguera piscator
Anhanguera piscator (meaning "fishing old devil") is a species of pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous (Albian age, 112Ma) Santana Formation of Brazil. This pterosaur is closely related to Ornithocheirus, and belongs in the family Ornithocheiridae within its own subfamily, Anhanguerinae. A. piscator has also been classified in the genus Coloborhynchus as Coloborhynchus piscator or as a synonym of Coloborhynchus robustus.
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Description
Anhanguera piscator was a fish-eating animal with a wingspan of about 4.5 m (15 ft). Like many other ornithocheirids, A. piscator had a rounded crests at front of its upper and lower jaws, which were filled with angled, conical but curved teeth of various sizes and orientations. Like many of its relatives, the jaws were tapered in width, but expanded into a broad, spoon-shaped rosette at the tip. It is distinguished from its relatives by subtle differences in the crest and teeth: unlike its close relatives Coloborhynchus and Ornithocheirus, the crest on the upper jaw of Anhanguera piscator did not begin at the tip of the snout, but was set farther back on the skull, and the expanded jaw tips were slender and spoon-shaped rather than robust and box-shaped as in Coloborhynchus. Like many ornithocheiroids, (most notably the pteranodonts but also in ornithocheirids such as Ludodactylus) Anhanguera piscator had an additional crest protruding from the back of the skull. However, it was reduced to a small, blunt projection in these animals.