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The Function of the Cranial Crest and Jaws of a Unique Pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil
Alexander W. A. Kellner,1*Diogenes de Almeida Campos2*
The discovery of a previously undescribed
pterosaur, Thalassodromeus sethi, yields information on the
function of cranialcrests and the feeding strategy developed by these
extinct flyingreptiles. The material consists of a large skull
(length: 1420millimeters, including the crest) with a huge bony crest
thatwas well irrigated by blood vessels and may have been used forregulation of its body temperature. The rostrum consists of twobladelike laminae, the arrangement of which is analogous to thecondition found in the bird Rynchops, which skims over the
waterto catch food, indicating that T. sethi
also may have been a skimmer.
1 Paleovertebrate Sector, Department of Geology
and Paleontology, Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, Rio de
Janeiro, RJ, 20940-040, Brazil.
2 Museu de
Ciências da Terra/Departamento Nacional de Produção
Mineral, avenida Pasteur 404, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22290-240, Brazil.
*
The authors are fellows at Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico and associate researchers at theAmerican Museum of Natural History.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E- mail:
kellner{at}mn.ufrj.br
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
LETTERS
John Michael Williams;, Alexander W. A. Kellner, and Diogenes A. Campos (27 September 2002) Science297 (5590), 2207b.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5590.2207b] |Full Text »|PDF »
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From the Cover: Discovery of a rare arboreal forest-dwelling flying reptile (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from China.
X. Wang, A. W. A. Kellner, Z. Zhou, and D. de Almeida Campos (2008)
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