Thalassodromeus is a genus of pterosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. The generic name means’sea runner’, and the specific name refers to the Egyptian god Seth due to its crest being supposedly reminiscent of Seth’s crown. The original skull, discovered in 1983 in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil, was collected in several pieces. In 2002, the skull was made the holotype specimen of the genus.
About Thalassodromeus in brief
Thalassodromeus is a genus of pterosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. The original skull, discovered in 1983 in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil, was collected in several pieces. In 2002, the skull was made the holotype specimen of the genus. The generic name means’sea runner’, and the specific name refers to the Egyptian god Seth due to its crest being supposedly reminiscent of Seth’s crown. The genus name was originally proposed to have fed like a modern skimmer bird, by skimming over the water’s surface and dipping its lower jaws to catch prey. This idea was later criticised for lack of evidence, and the animal was found to have strong jaw musculature, and may have been able to kill and eat relatively large prey on the ground. A jaw tip was assigned to T. sethi in 2005, became the basis of the new genus Banguela in 2014, and assigned back to ThalassODromeus as the species T. oberlii in 2018. Another species was named in 2015 based on a supposed crest fragment, but this was later shown to be part of a turtle shell. The skull was first reported in a 1984 Italian book, and preliminarily described and figured in 1990 by palaeontologists Alexander W. Kellner and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The specimen was preserved in a calcareous nodule, and consists of an almost-complete, three-dimensional skull, missing two segments of the bottom of the skull and mandible and the front of the lower jaw.
Its skull had large nasoantorbital fenestrae, and part of its palate was concave. The lower jaw was blade-like, and might have turned slightly upwards. The closest relative of ThalASSodromeUS was Tupuxuara; both are grouped in a clade that has been placed within either Tapejaridae or within Neoazhdarchia. As the genus name implies, the animal may have adapted to fly in inland settings, and would have been efficient at moving on the floor. The species is known from the Romualdo Formation, where it coexisted with many other pterosaurs, dinosaurs and other animals. It is estimated to have had a wing span of 4. 2 to 4. 5 m. The crest was lightly built and ran from the tip of the upper jaw to beyond the back of the head, ending in a unique V-shaped notch. The jaws were toothless, and had sharp upper and lower edges. The left jugal region and right mandibular ramus are pushed slightly inward. The crest may have developed late in growth, and they may have was sexually dimorphic. The species may have had more than one function, including thermoregulation and display, but it likely had more to one function.
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This page is based on the article Thalassodromeus published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
