A fossil that was confiscated in 2013 by the Brazilian Police during a raid in Santos (So Paulo state) turned out to be the specimen of the tapejrido clade, a subgroup of flying reptiles of the order of the pterosaurs. more complete and best preserved that has recovered so far in Brazil.

The limestone slabs in which the remains of Tupandactylus navigans were preserved in a way exceptional, they conserve the practically complete skeleton, including the skull and post-skull, as well as remnants of soft tissues adhered to the sagittal crest, a Brazilian research team detailed in a study published this Wednesday at PLOS ONE.

Although there is an abundant fossil record of these reptiles that thrived during the early Cretaceous, between 145 and 100 million years, in what is now Brazil. Most of them only preserve partial remains, so the confiscated specimen allowed paleontologists to describe for the first time the shape of the premaxillary crest, the proportions and shape of the dental crest, as well as the axial skeletal anatomy.

Some of the new features discovered, such as the length of its neck, the difference in size between the front and rear limbs, as well as the pronounced sagittal crest, suggest that the Tupandactylus navigans had a terrestrial foraging lifestyle, as These characteristics may have made it difficult to fly short distances, which is especially useful when escaping from predators.

However, the analysis of the fossil also showed that this pterosaur had the physiological adaptations to maintain a propelled flight, such as the presence of the notarium bone, formed by the fusion of the thoracic vertebrae, a wide anchoring surface for the pectoral muscles, as well as divisions in the composition of the wings that would have been fundamental during the glide.

Further research on the rare fossil will be necessary, the academics note, in order to determine how the newly discovered features contributed to a foraging lifestyle, as well as its potential to increase performance in flight.

From agreement to Victor Beccari, co-author of the publication, the sample studied was recovered along with 3,000 other fossils that were destined for the museums of the Global North [pases industrializados] or, worse still, for private collectors! However, thanks to the police intervention now the Tupandactylus navigans is protected by the Institute of Geosciences of the University of So Paulo and is part of the exhibition Fossils of Araripe

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