Anhanguera (pterosaur)
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Anhanguera Temporal range: Albian, 112 Ma |
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| A. blittersdorffi skull, Natural History Museum, London | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Family: | †Anhangueridae |
| Genus: |
†Anhanguera Campos & Kellner, 1985 |
| Type species | |
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Anhanguera blittersdorffi Campos & Kellner, 1985 |
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| Other species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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"Pricesaurus" Martins-Neto, 1986 (nomen nudum) |
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"Pricesaurus" Martins-Neto, 1986 (nomen nudum)
Anhanguera (meaning "old devil") is a genus of pterodactyloid 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.
Anhanguera was a fish-eating animal with a wingspan of about 4.6 m (15 ft). Like many other ornithocheirids, Anhanguera had 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 did not begin at the tip of the snout, but was set farther back on the skull. Like many ornithocheiroids, (most notably the pteranodonts but also in ornithocheirids such as Ludodactylus) Anhanguera had an additional crest protruding from the back of the skull. However, it was reduced to a small, blunt projection in these animals.
A study in 2003 showed that Anhanguera held its head at an angle to the ground due to its inner ear structure, which helped the animal detect its balance.
Anhanguera had bony disks in their eye sockets, called sclerotic rings. These disks may have provided support to the pterosaur's eyes. Sclerotic rings are found in some extant species of vertebrates.
There are three species of Anhanguera. A. santanae, A. blittersdorfi and A. piscator* are known from several fragmentary remains (including skulls) from the Romualdo Formation calcareous concretions (Santana Group) of Ceará and Pernambuco states of Brazil. *The well-known species A. piscator has been redescribed by Veldmeijer (2003) and proponed to belong to the genus Coloborhynchus but a late cladogram from Andres and Myers (2013) placed this taxon back to Anhanguera.
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