| Thalassodromids Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 108 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| clade: | †Neoazhdarchia |
| Family: | †Thalassodromidae Kellner, 2007 |
| Type species | |
| †Thalassodromeus sethi Kellner & Campos, 2002 |
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| Genera | |
| Synonyms | |
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Tupuxuaridae |
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Thalassodromidae (meaning "sea runners") is a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the early Cretaceous period of Brazil. It contains two genera, Thalassodromeus and Tupuxuara.[1]
The classification of thalassodromids is controversial. Some studies, including one by Lü and colleagues in 2008, have found that the thalassodromids are more closely related to the azhdarchids than to the tapejarids,[2] and have placed them in their own family (which has sometimes been referred to as Tupuxuaridae,[3] though Thalassodrominae was named first[1]). Alternately, they have been considered a subfamily (Thalassodrominae) within the Tapejaridae.[4]
Below are two alternate cladograms resulting from studies of azhdarchoid relationships. The first, presented by Felipe Pinheiro and colleagues in 2011, found the thalassodromids as subgroup within the Tapejaridae. The second, presented by Lu and colleagues in 2008, found them to be closer to the Azhdarchidae.
| Azhdarchoidea |
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| Azhdarchoidea |
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