Tapejarids were pterosaurs with brief, downturned snouts and, in some types, magnificent head crests.

The group has actually long been highly related to Cretaceous rocks in Brazil, where its type types was discovered.

“Among the most unique and anatomically uncommon of pterosaurs are the members of the Cretaceous clade Tapejaridae, a group of azhdarchoid pterodactyloids kept in mind for their brief, downturned rostra and in some cases amazingly popular premaxillary crests,” stated Universidade Federal do ABC paleontologist Rubi Pêgas and associates.

“Tapejarids may likewise have actually been environmentally irregular, there being some indicator that they were most likely to be omnivorous and even herbivorous/frugivorous.”

“Tapejarids are highly connected with the Aptian-Albian deposits of Brazil owing to the finding there of the type taxon, Tapejara wellnhoferi of the Romualdo Formation, in addition to the 2 types of Tupandactylus from the Crato Formation and both the well-represented Caiuajara dobruskii and the just recently put up Torukjara bandeirae from the Lower Cretaceous Caiuá Group.”

“The existence of the group beyond South America was very first recommended in 1999 following the acknowledgment of a Tapejara-like anterior piece of mandible from the Cenomanian Kem Group of Morocco. Extra North African finds were reported in 2020.”

Called Hintighernia edingeraethe brand-new tapejarid types resided in what is now Britain throughout the Cretaceous duration, 105 to 100 million years back.

The fossil originates from the Cambridge Greensand Member of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation, a layer of remodelled sediment that has actually yielded more than 2,000 pterosaur specimens.

The specimen was very first explained in 1870 and was later on designated to Ornithostoma sedgwickia types call the paleontologists argue must now be limited to a various pterosaur.

“Our reanalysis of Ornithostoma sedgwicki leads us to concern it as a chaoyangopterid,” they discussed.

“We recommend the limitation of the name Ornithostoma sedgwicki to its holotype and 3 referred jaw pieces.”

Utilizing micro-CT scanning, the scientists digitally rebuilded the Hintighernia edingerae‘s braincase.

The endocast, a design of the area the brain inhabited, looks like that of Tapejara wellnhoferi

According to the researchers, the resemblances most likely show close evolutionary kinship, though they warn that additional phylogenetic deal with pterosaur neuroanatomy is required.

In addition, the authors reassessed other pterosaur specimens from the Cambridge Greensand.

They recognized a piece of a snout pointer as perhaps coming from the exact same brand-new genus, identifying it cf. Hintighernia

2 neck vertebrae and part of an arm bone were associated more broadly to tapejarids.

A different set of extended neck vertebrae, together with jaw pieces, shows that a minimum of another sort of azhdarchoid resided in the location.

In overall, the scientists count a minimum of 3 azhdarchoid types in the Cambridge Greensand, and a minimum of 4 unique azhdarchoid types when the various bone types are thought about.

They recommend Europe was a hotspot of early tapejarid variety and a possible point of origin for the sinopterines of eastern Asia and the tapejarines of South America.

Dispersal paths through North Africa, potentially through connections explained by the Eurogondwana hypothesis, would follow such situation.

“Our finds recommend that Europe was a crucial area in the evolutionary history of this group, as a crucial center of early tapejarid radiation,” they concluded.

The discovery is reported in a paper in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Rubi V. Pêgas et al2026. A tapejarid pterosaur from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous of England), with discuss its neuroanatomy and the biogeography of the group. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 208 (3 ): zlag162; doi: 10.1093/ zoolinnean/zlag162