Europejara
Name:
Europejara
(European Tapejara).
Phonetic: Yu-rope-har-rah.
Named By: R. Vullo, J. Marug�n-Lob�n, A.
W. A. Kellner, A. D. Buscaloni, B. Gomez, M. Fuente
& J. J. Moratalla - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiroidea,
Azhdarchoidea, Tapejaridae, Tapejarinae.
Species: E. olcadesorum
(type).
Diet: Uncertain, but the original describers
suggested that it was a frugivore (fruit eater).
Size: Wingspan roughly estimated at two meters.
Known locations: Spain - Calizas de La Huergina
Formation.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and lower jaws
preserved crushed on a slab.
Described in 2012, Europejara has gone down as the first tapejarid pterosaur known from Europe. At the time of writing the only known fossils of this pterosaur are a partial skull and lower jaw. The preserved portion of the skull is two hundred and thirty millimetres long, though in life the skull is estimated to have been up to two hundred and fifty millimetres long. A crest was present on top of the skull which in life would have risen up and back over the skull, though the exact form of the crest has not been formed completely. A smaller crest was also present upon the bottom tip of the lower jaw.
Further reading
- A new crested pterosaur from the Early Cetaceous of Spain: the
first European tapejarid (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchoidea). -
PLoS ONE 7(7):e38900 - R. Vullo, J. Marug�n-Lob�n,
A. W. A. Kellner, A. D. Buscaloni, B. Gomez, M.
Fuente & J. J. Moratalla - 2012.
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