Bakiribu a fish, not a pterosaur (free pdf)
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Ben Creisler
Apr 11, 2026, 6:33:44 PMApr 11
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
Ben Creisler
Not yet mentioned (was posted earlier as preprint in bioRxiv):
Free pdf:
David M. Unwin, Roy E. Smith, Samuel L.A. Cooper & David M. Martill (2026)
Reinterpretation of Bakiribu waridza from the Romualdo Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil: a fish not a pterosaur
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 98(2): e20251374
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202620251374
https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/GnTpkJ4FFCthP9LYsvFhycC/abstract/?lang=en
Free pdf:
https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/GnTpkJ4FFCthP9LYsvFhycC/?format=pdf&lang=en
Fragmentary fossil remains from the Romualdo Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil, preserved in association with two fish were interpreted as two individuals of a new genus and species of ctenochasmatine pterosaur, Bakiribu waridza Pêgas et al. 2025. Comparison with fossils from the same geological unit show that the remains represent the gill arch apparatus of a large actinopterygian fish. A series of partially articulated bony elements correspond closely in morphology to the ceratohyals, hypohyals, basibranchial and hypobranchials of amiid fish while the purported ‘teeth’, which lack enamel, dentine tubules and in most cases evidence of a structure corresponding to a pulp cavity, are reinterpreted as gill filaments. Bakiribu waridza is a fish, not a pterosaur and the name, founded on indeterminate remains of an actinopterygian fish, possibly an amiid, should be treated as a nomen dubium. Rather than a regurgitalite this association of several fish remains appears to be a typical Romualdo Formation concretion. This reinterpretation of Bakiribu has negligible impact on our current understanding of the evolutionary history of pterosaurs as ctenochasmatines represented, for example, by Pterodaustro, were already known to be present in South America until the end of the Early Cretaceous.
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EDITORIAL NOTE:
Alexander W. A. Kellner (2026)
Scientific errors in paleontology - the case of Bakiribu: pterosaur or fish?
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 98(2): e20269802
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202620269802
Free pdf:
David M. Unwin, Roy E. Smith, Samuel L.A. Cooper & David M. Martill (2026)
Reinterpretation of Bakiribu waridza from the Romualdo Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil: a fish not a pterosaur
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 98(2): e20251374
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202620251374
https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/GnTpkJ4FFCthP9LYsvFhycC/abstract/?lang=en
Free pdf:
https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/GnTpkJ4FFCthP9LYsvFhycC/?format=pdf&lang=en
Fragmentary fossil remains from the Romualdo Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil, preserved in association with two fish were interpreted as two individuals of a new genus and species of ctenochasmatine pterosaur, Bakiribu waridza Pêgas et al. 2025. Comparison with fossils from the same geological unit show that the remains represent the gill arch apparatus of a large actinopterygian fish. A series of partially articulated bony elements correspond closely in morphology to the ceratohyals, hypohyals, basibranchial and hypobranchials of amiid fish while the purported ‘teeth’, which lack enamel, dentine tubules and in most cases evidence of a structure corresponding to a pulp cavity, are reinterpreted as gill filaments. Bakiribu waridza is a fish, not a pterosaur and the name, founded on indeterminate remains of an actinopterygian fish, possibly an amiid, should be treated as a nomen dubium. Rather than a regurgitalite this association of several fish remains appears to be a typical Romualdo Formation concretion. This reinterpretation of Bakiribu has negligible impact on our current understanding of the evolutionary history of pterosaurs as ctenochasmatines represented, for example, by Pterodaustro, were already known to be present in South America until the end of the Early Cretaceous.
===
EDITORIAL NOTE:
Alexander W. A. Kellner (2026)
Scientific errors in paleontology - the case of Bakiribu: pterosaur or fish?
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 98(2): e20269802
doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202620269802
Free pdf:
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