In 2012 paleontologists Romain Vullo and collegues named a new pterosaur from Lower Cretaceous rocks in Spain. This pterosaur, named Europejara olcadesorum, is based on a single partial skull discovered at the Las Hoyas locality in the La Huérguina Formation, deposited 125 to 130 million years ago.
The skull is incomplete, represented by most of the lower jaw, the region around the ear and eye, and a small part of the upper jaw. Both upper and lower jaws are toothless, and the lower jaw bears a large semicircular crest growing from the chin. Although the skull is incomplete, comparisons to similar pterosaurs suggest it would be about 30-35 cm (12-14 inches) long when complete. A living Europejara would have a wingspan of roughly two meters (6.5 feet).
Vullo and colleagues found Europejara to be a member of the Tapejaridae. Other tapejarids are known from more recent rocks in Asia and South America. Unfortunately, Europejara's remains are too incomplete to determine its closest kin within the family. All known tapejarids have relatively short snouts, and had tall semi-circular crests on their chins and snouts. The snout crests are known to have been greatly enlarged with soft tissues in many species so that in profile they would look like a guitar pick.
Tapejarids are members of the short-tailed pterodactyloid lineage which first emerged in the Late Jurassic and dominated the Cretaceous skies. Within the pterodactyloids, tapejarids are most closely related to the thalassodromids, azhdarchids, and chaoyangopterids. These families are collectively known as azhdarchoids and are all toothless and have many adaptations for living on land.
Europejara lived near lagoons in a tropical forest. Like many Mesozoic tropical forests, the most common trees were conifers and the understory was dominated by ferns. Flowering plants, which dominate modern tropical forests, were present and diverse. Vullo and colleagues considered Europejara and other tapejarids to be fruit and seed eaters. They pointed out that the radiation of the tapejarids happened alongside that of the flowering plants, and they may have played a role in dispersing their seeds. The other azhdarchoids are thought to have been carnivores focusing on terrestrial prey, and early tapejarids may have been omnivores.
Tapejaridae