Abstract
A few postcranial remains of a Late Triassic pterosaur from the early Coloradian Caturrita Formation of Rio Grande do Sul are communicated. The general morphology of the coracoid, proximal portion of the humerus, femur, tibia and fibula suggests that it is more primitive than the pterosaurs from the Norian of northern Italy. The morphology and proportions of the different bones support their assignment to a primitive pterosaur. An almost complete maxilla with three teeth is tentatively referred to the same taxon because it was collected at some distance from the postcrania cited above.
This pterosaur is possibly older than other Triassic pterosaurs and was recorded from a typical terrestrial environment. It suggests that the earliest pterosaurs evolved in continental and littoral marine environments.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Prof. Kevin Padian, for critical reading of the manuscript and to Pablo Chiarelli, for technical assistance.
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Bonaparte, J., Schultz, C., Soares, M. (2010). Pterosauria from the Late Triassic of Southern Brazil. In: New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 132. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10311-7_4
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