page_title: Aymberedactylus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Aymberedactylus / Description
caption_attribution_description: Mandibular symphysis of Aymberedactylus cearensis gen. et sp. nov. (MN 7596-V). (A) Reconstruction of the mandible of Aymberedactylus cearensis, with a red box indicating the zoomed areas and a red line indicating the depicted cross-section. (B) Mandibular symphysis in dorsal view. (C) Mandibular symphysis in ventral view. Arrows indicate a fracture that reveals the cross-section. (D) Cross-section. (E) Reconstructed cross section. Abbreviations: dfo = dentary fossa, fo = foramen, sys = symphyseal shelf.
context_page_description: Aymberedactylus is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It contains a single species, A. cearensis.
context_section_description: Aymberedactylus can be identified as a tapejarine tapejarid from the holotypic jawbone due to its toothlessness, slightly downturned dentary symphysis which accounts for half of the total length of the jaw, and a small crest on the bottom of the dentary (which was incompletely preserved). Small neurovascular foramina on the symphysis indicates the likely presence of a horned sheath over the tip of the jaw, which is also seen in Tupandactylus. The preserved portion is 270 millimetres (11 in) long.
  It can be distinguished from other pterosaurs by a long retroarticular process (a process to which the depressor mandibulae muscle attaches, implying that Aymberedactylus had good control over the movement of its jaw bones) and a small fossa, or depression, with a roughened bone texture on the splenial bone. In addition, Aymberedactylus shows a unique combination of traits: the shelf on the dentary symphysis is deep, the dorsal rim of the symphysis is concave, the jaw is relatively wide, the dentary fossa is short and shallow (which indicates a relatively weak bite), and the mandibular rami form a very large angle with the symphysis. These traits are a unique combination of basal and derived characteristics within Tapejaridae.
  The preserved specimen of Aymberedactylus would have had a wingspan of approximately 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), typical of tapejarids. Judging by how the bones in its skull were not yet entirely fused, it was likely a subadult.
caption: Mandibular symphysis
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