Maaradactylus: a long-crested pterosaur from Brazil

Maaradactylus kellneri is an anhanguerid pterosaur from the Romualdo Formation of north-eastern Brazil. Its type, MPSC R 2357, preserves a nearly complete skull, the atlas and the axis, but no wings or trunk. A tall crest begins at the snout tip and extends back to the twenty-second pair of tooth sockets; 35 pairs of alveoli line the jaws. These details make the skull distinctive, while estimates of body size and fish-eating remain comparative inferences. The pterosaur catalogue includes it among the richly varied toothed pterosaurs of the Araripe Basin.

Quick facts

A skull recovered in the Araripe Basin

Renan Bantim and colleagues named Maaradactylus kellneri in 2014 from specimen MPSC R 2357. The fossil was found at Sítio São Gonçalo near Santana do Cariri in Ceará, north-eastern Brazil. The holotype belongs to the Romualdo Formation, whose fossil-bearing interval is commonly placed in the Aptian–Albian part of the Early Cretaceous.

The preserved material consists of a nearly complete skull and the first two neck vertebrae, the atlas and axis. It is one of the largest anhanguerid skulls described from the Araripe Basin. Because the wing bones and trunk are missing, the type does not provide a directly measured wingspan. Any completed body must be reconstructed from proportions of related pterosaurs.

A long crest and changing tooth sockets

The sagittal crest rises from the front of the upper jaw and extends back to about the twenty-second pair of alveoli. It does not cover the nasoantorbital opening. The skull also has 35 pairs of tooth sockets. Their sizes do not follow a simple steady decline: the original description records several changes along the tooth row, with the posterior sockets arranged in groups. Grooves and raised structures on the side of the crest may have carried blood vessels, but soft tissue is not preserved there.

The enlarged anterior teeth and expanded jaw tips are compatible with catching slippery prey. The Romualdo setting included aquatic habitats, so fish are a reasonable ecological possibility. No stomach contents or prey item is associated with MPSC R 2357, and the skull alone does not tell whether the animal seized fish at the surface, in the water, or by another method.

Relationships among anhanguerids

The authors assigned Maaradactylus to Anhangueridae based on its combination of crest, tooth-row and palate characters. Family-level relationships within the Araripe pterosaur fauna have shifted among studies, partly because many taxa are known from isolated or incomplete fossils. Similar long jaws do not make Maaradactylus interchangeable with Anhanguera, Coloborhynchus or other toothed forms.

The type skull anchors the genus and its diagnostic features. The exact outline of its wing, adult mass, colour and social behaviour remain outside what the known specimen can establish.

Reading the reconstruction carefully

A full-body illustration gives a useful sense of scale, but it contains elements absent from the holotype. The crest and tooth-bearing skull can be tied closely to MPSC R 2357; the wing span, flight pose and soft covering depend on comparison. Keeping those levels separate makes the fossil informative without making the missing skeleton appear found.