Yelaphomte

Yelaphomte
Temporal range: Late Triassic, late Norian to Rhaetian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Family: Raeticodactylidae
Genus: Yelaphomte
Martínez et al. 2022
Species:
Y. praderioi
Binomial name
Yelaphomte praderioi
Martínez et al. 2022

Yelaphomte (Allentiac, "beast of the air") is an extinct genus of non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from the late Norian–early Rhaetian-aged Quebrada del Barro Formation of Argentina. It lived in the Late Triassic period (somewhere between 217-201 million years ago),[1] and is one of the only known definitive Triassic pterosaurs from the southern hemisphere (along with the contemporaneous and related Pachagnathus). It was a small and crested pterosaur, although its small size may be due to immaturity. It is also one of the few known continental Triassic pterosaurs, indicating that the absence of early pterosaurs in both the southern hemisphere and terrestrial environments is likely a sampling bias, and not a true absence.

  1. ^ Müller R.T., Ezcurra M.D., Garcia M.S., Agnolín F.L., Stocker M.R., Novas F.E., Soares M.B., Kellner A.W.A. & Nesbitt S.J. (2023). ”New reptile shows dinosaurs and pterosaurs evolved among diverse precursors”. Nature 620(7974): p. 589–594. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06359-z