Aerotitan
Name: Aerotitan
(Air titan).
Phonetic: Air-o-tie-tan.
Named By: Fernando Emilio Novas, Martin Kundrat,
Federico Agnolína, Martín Ezcurra, Per Erik Ahlberg, Marcelo
Isasi, Alberto Arriagada & Pablo Chafrat - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae.
Species: A. sudamericanus
(type).
Diet: Uncertain, but either a carnivore or
piscivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains, but
comparison of the holotype fossil to other similar genera has yielded
an
estimated wingspan of at least 5 meters.
Known locations: Argentina, Rio Negro Province
- Allen Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial jaw bones.
Although
named from very little fossil remains, Aerotitan
is thought to be one
of the azdarchid pterosaurs,
and if correct, this would make
Aerotitan the first known confirmed azdarchid
pterosaur from South
America. The azdarchid pterosaurs are a special group noted for
having proportionately long necks supported by lengthened cervical
(neck) vertebrae. Some of these such as Quetzalcoatlus
and
Hatzegopteryx
grew to truly gigantic sizes, but uncertainty has
shrouded what they ate. Studies of azdarchids show that they would
have been most comfortable while feeding on the ground since the long
neck provided little support for the head against water resistance
while feeding upon the wing. Popular thinking about azdarchids at the
time of writing envisions them as living more like storks, sitting on
the edge of a body of water and snatching fish from the shallows, or
even stalking small vertebrates like lizards and mammals through dense
but low growing vegetation.
Aerotitan
was first described from fossils that were thought to represent the
rostrum, a part of the upper jaws. Later analysis of the fossils
however (Pêgas et al) has led to an alternative
hypothesis that they are actually
part of the lower jaws.
Further reading
- A new large pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia,
Fernando Emilio Novas, Martin Kundrat, Federico Agnolína, Martín
Ezcurra, Per Erik Ahlberg, Marcelo Isasi, Alberto Arriagada
& Pablo Chafrat - 2012.
- On the pterosaur Aerotitan sudamericanus (Neuquén
Basin, Upper
Cretaceous of Argentina), with comments on azhdarchoid phylogeny and
jaw anatomy. - Cretaceous Research. 129: Article 104998. - Rodrigo
V.Pêgas, BorjaHolgado, Leonardo D.Ortiz David, Mattia A.Baiano
& Fabiana R.Costa - 2021.
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