Araripedactylus was a large genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of pterodactyloid pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

, known from a single wing bone found in the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

-age Santana Formation

Santana Formation

The Santana Formation is a geologic Lagerstätte in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin where the states of Pernambuco, Piauí and Ceará come together. The geological formation, named after the village of Santana do Cariri, lies at the base of the Araripe Plateau...

 of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

The genus was in 1977 named by Peter Wellnhofer

Peter Wellnhofer

Peter Wellnhofer is a German paleontologist at the "Bayerische Staatssammlung fur Paläontologie" in Munich. He is best known for his work on the various fossil specimens of Archaeopteryx or "Urvogel", the first known bird...

 who, unaware that the name Araripesaurus

Araripesaurus

Araripesaurus was a pterosaur, belonging to the Pterodactyloidea, from the famous Santana Formation of Brazil, dating from the Lower Cretaceous....

had been published by Price in 1971, presumed he was naming the first pterosaur genus from Brazil. The genus name refers to the Araripe Plateau and combines this with daktylos, Greek for "finger", a common element in pterosaur names since Pterodactylus

Pterodactylus

Pterodactylus is a genus of pterosaurs, whose members are popularly known as pterodactyls. It was the first to be named and identified as a flying reptile...

. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Araripedactylus dehmi; the specific name honours the German paleontologist Richard Dehm, a professor at the Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 institute that acquired the only known specimen in 1975.

The holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

, BSP 1975 I 166, consists of a single phalanx

Phalanx bones

In anatomy, phalanx bones are those that form the fingers and toes. In primates such as humans and monkeys, the thumb and big toe have two phalanges, while the other fingers and toes consist of three. Phalanges are classified as long bones.The phalanges do not have individual names...

, the first of the right wing finger, embedded in an elongated chalk nodule. When the nodule was split to reveal the fossil, its distal end was damaged. The exemplar is that of an adult individual. The phalanx has a length of 55 centimetres. Its bone walls are described by Wellnhofer as exceptionally thick for a pterosaur, three to five millimetres.

Wellnhofer, because of the lack of further information, placed Araripedactylus in a general Pterodactyloidea. Alexander Kellner

Alexander Kellner

Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner is a Liechtensteinian/Brazilian paleontologist, a leading expert in the field of the study of pterosaurs....

 in 2000 assumed that in view of its provenance the species likely belonged to Ornithocheiroidea

Ornithocheiroidea

Ornithocheiroidea is an extinct group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.-Locomotion:Ornithocheiroids, like other pterosaurs, are considered to have been skilled fliers as well as adept at moving on the ground...

 (sensu Kellner) and concluded that the phalanx was hard to distinguish from that of other large pterosaurs from the formation, such as Anhanguera

Anhangüera

Anhangüera originates from a word in the Tupi language which was the nickname given by Brazilian Indians to an explorer and "bandeirante", Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva .It may also refer to:* Anhanguera, Goiás, a municipality in the state of Goiás...

or Tropeognathus. He could not confirm the exceptional thickness of the bone walls, nor any other autapomorphy

Autapomorphy

In cladistics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given terminal group. That is, it is found only in one member of a clade, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to the group...

of the genus.

The wingspan of Araripedactylus was estimated by Wellnhofer as at least 4.8 metres and in another publication at five metres.

Literature

• Wellnhofer P., 1977, "Araripedactylus dehmi nov.gen., nov.sp., ein neuer Flugsaurier aus der Unterkreide von Brasilien", Mitteilungen der Bayerischen Staatssamlung für Palaeontologie und historische Geologie 17: 157-167
• Wellnhofer, P., 1991, "The Santana Formation Pterosaurs", In: J. G. Maisey (ed.), Santana fossils: An Illustrated Atlas, T.F.H. Publications, Neptune, New Jersey, pp. 351–370