Thalassodromeus

Thalassodromeus is a genus of pterosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. Thalassodromeus had one of the largest known skulls among pterosaurs, around 1.42 m (4 ft 8 in) long, with one of the proportionally largest cranial crests of any vertebrate. Though only the skull is known, the animal is estimated to have had a wing span of 4.2 to 4.5 m (14 to 15 ft). The crest was lightly built and ran from the tip of the upper jaw to beyond the back of the skull, ending in a unique V-shaped notch. The jaws were toothless, and had sharp upper and lower edges. Its skull had large nasoantorbital fenestrae (opening that combined the antorbital fenestra in front of the eye with the bony nostril), and part of its palate was concave. The lower jaw was blade-like, and may have turned slightly upwards.

The original skull, discovered in 1983 in the Araripe Basin of northeastern Brazil, was collected in several pieces. In 2002, the skull was made the holotype specimen of Thalassodromeus sethi by palaeontologists Alexander Kellner and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The generic name means "sea runner" (in reference to its supposed mode of feeding), and the specific name refers to the Egyptian god Seth due to its crest being supposedly reminiscent of Seth's crown. Other scholars have pointed out that the crest was instead similar to the crown of Amon, and Seth did not wear such a crown. A jaw tip was assigned to T. sethi in 2005, moved to the new genus Banguela in 2014, and assigned back to Thalassodromeus as the species T. oberlii in 2018. Another species (T. sebesensis) was named in 2015 based on a supposed crest fragment, but this was later shown to be part of a turtle shell. The closest relative of Thalassodromeus was Tupuxuara; both are grouped in a clade that has been placed within either Tapejaridae (as the subfamily Thalassodrominae) or within Neoazhdarchia (as the family Thalassodromidae).

Several theories have been suggested to explain the function of Thalassodromeus's crest, including thermoregulation and display, but it likely had more than one function. The crests of thalassodromids appear to have developed late in growth (probably correlated with sexual maturity) and they may have been sexually dimorphic (differing according to sex). As the genus name implies, Thalassodromeus was originally proposed to have fed like a modern skimmer bird, by skimming over the water's surface and dipping its lower jaws to catch prey. This idea was later criticised for lack of evidence; Thalassodromeus has since been found to have had strong jaw musculature, and may have been able to kill and eat relatively large prey on the ground. The limb proportions of related species indicate that it may have adapted to fly in inland settings, and would have been efficient at moving on the ground. Thalassodromeus is known from the Romualdo Formation, where it coexisted with many other types of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and other animals.