Named By: Campos & Kellner - 1985.
Synonyms: Araripesaurus santanae, Cearadactylus ligabuei, Ornithocheirus cuvieri, Pterodactylus fittoni, Santanadactylus araripensis, Tropeognathus robustus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiridae, Anhanguerinae.
Species: A. cuveri, A. fittoni, A. blittersdorffi, A. santanae.
Size: Up to 4.5 meter wingspan.
Known locations: Australia. Brazil - Santana Formation. Russia. United Kingdom - Cambridge Greensand.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Many specimens known.
Anhanguera had rounded crests on both the tip of
snout and lower jaw. Also the jaws broadened towards the tip with the
sharp thin teeth pointing outwards in what is often referred to as a
rosette. This arrangement greatly increased the 'catch area' for
Anhanguera as it flew over the water looking for
also had a smaller crest rising up from the back of its skull. This
is quite a common feature amongst the advanced pterosaurs,
crests of ornithocherid pterosaurs were not as dramatic as others such
With remains of Anhanguera being recovered in so many far reaching places, it seems that Anhanguera had a cosmopolitan distribution with the genus being represented by different species all over. However many of the species have since been found to represent other earlier named species. Anhanguera is also similar to the Chinese pterosaur Liaoningopterus.
- Panorama of the flying reptiles study in Brazil and South America. - Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 57(4):453-466. - D. de A. Campos & A. W. A. Kellner - 1985.
- Un novo exemplar de Anhanguera blittersdorffi (Reptilia, Pterosauria) da formaçao Santana, Cretaceo Inferior do Nordeste do Brasil [A new example of Anhanguera blittersdorffi (Reptilia, pterosaur) from the Santana Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Northeastern Brazil]. In Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologia, Rio de Janeiro, Resumos, p. 13. - - D. de A. Campos & A. W. A. Kellner - 1985.
- Description of a new species of Anhangueridae (Pterodactyloidea) with comments on the pterosaurfauna from the Santana Formation (Aptian–Albian), northeastern Brazil. - Tokyo, National Science Museum (National Science Museum Monographs, 17). - A.W.A. Kellner & Y. Tomida - 2000.
- Description of Coloborhynchus spielbergi sp. nov. (Pterodactyloidea) from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil. - Scripta Geologica, 125: 35-139. - A. J. Veldmeijer - 2003.