of sinopterines
Huaxiadraco and
Sinopterus Tapejaridae was named and defined by Brazilian paleontologist
Alexander Kellner in 1989 as the clade containing both
Tapejara and
Tupuxuara, plus all descendants of their most recent common ancestor. In 2007, Kellner divided the family: Tapejarinae, consisting of
Tapejara and its close relatives, and
Thalassodrominae, consisting of
Thalassodromeus and
Tupuxuara. A 2011 study subsumed the family
Chaoyangopteridae in as the subfamily Chaoyangopterinae, something not followed by future authors. Kellner's concept of a Tapejaridae consisting of Tapejarinae and Thalassodrominae would be the basis for numerous subsequent phylogenetic analyses. '', phylogenetically controversial pterosaurs classically assigned to Tapejaridae Various opposing studies have arose challenging Kellner's concept of Tapejaridae. The 2003 model of paleontologist David Unwin found
Tupuxara and
Thalassodromeus to be more distantly related to
Tapejara and therefore outside of Tapejaridae, instead being related to
Azhdarchidae. Later, in 2006, British paleontologists
David Martill and
Darren Naish followed Unwin's concept, and provided a revised definition for Tapejaridae was also proposed: the clade containing all species more closely related to
Tapejara than to
Quetzalcoatlus. A 2008 study by
Lü Junchang and colleagues also corroborated this model, and used the term "Tupuxuaridae" to include both genera. In 2009, British paleontologist
Mark Witton also agreed with the Unwin model. However, he noted that the term Thalassodrominae was created before Tupuxuaridae, meaning it had naming priority. He elevated Thalassodrominae to family level, thus creating the denomination Thalassodromidae. Regarding the core tapejarid clade, American paleontologist Brian Andres and colleagues formally defined Tapejaridae as the clade containing
Tapejara and
Sinopterus in 2014. They also re-defined the subfamily Tapejarinae as all species closer to
Tapejara than to
Sinopterus, and added a new clade, Tapejarini, to include all descendants of the last common ancestor of
Tapejara and
Tupandactylus. In 2020, in the description of the genus
Wightia, an opposing subfamily was named, Sinopterinae, consisting of tapejarids more closely related to
Sinopterus than
Tapejara. These studies follow the Unwin model, opposing Kellner's model of Tapejaridae while corroborating the close relationship between thalassodromids, azhdarchids, rather than tapejarids. '', a pterosaur recovered either within Tapejarinae or just outside Tapejaridae in its own clade,
Caupedactylia In 2023, paleontologist Rodrigo Pêgas and colleagues argued that despite the disagreements about the position of
Thalassodromeus and its relatives, the species in question were consistently related. Therefore, they favored the term Thalassodromidae to have consistency with other studies that used the same name, despite finding them to form a natural grouping with Tapejaridae in their phylogenetic analysis (per the Kellner model). Thus, Thalassodromidae and Tapejaridae would be separate families within
Tapejaromorpha. In their 2023 study, Pêgas and colleagues redefined Tapejaridae to be the most recent common ancestor of
Sinopterus,
Tapejara, and
Caupedactylus in order to preserve the scope of the family in light of finding
Caupedactylus, traditionally a tapejarine, outside of the Andres definition of Tapejaridae. They divided this redefined Tapejaridae into the groups Eutapejaria, containing the subfamilies Sinopterinae and Tapejarinae, and
Caupedactylia, containing the pterosaurs
Caupedactylus and
Aymberedactylus. In 2024, Pêgas rejected this redefinition of Tapejaridae in light of non-compliance with
phylocode rules, applying the
Tapejara and
Sinopterus definition and deeming Eutapejaria a synonym. Instead, he created the larger group contain Tapejaridae and Caupedactylia, removing
Caupedactylus and
Aymberedactylus from the family itself. The
cladogram below shows the phylogenetic analysis conducted by paleontologist Gabriela Cerqueira and colleagues in 2021, which uses Kellner's nomenclature of Tapejaridae. }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} Below are two cladograms representing different concepts of Tapejaridae. The first one shows the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Andres in 2021, in which Tapejaridae consists of the subfamilies Tapejarinae and Sinopterinae. He found the pterosaurs
Lacusovagus and
Keresdrakon as tapejarines, an arrangement that had never been recovered in previous analyses. Regarding the interrelationships of Tapejaridae, Andres follows Unwin's concept. The second cladogram shows the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Pêgas in 2024. He also found Tapejaridae to consist of both Tapejarinae and Sinopterinae, but differed from Andres in recovering the tapejarid
Bakonydraco as a sinopterine instead of tapejarine. He created the new subtribe Caiuajarina within Tapejarini to include
Caiuajara and
Torukjara. Additionally, his analysis further differs from that of Andres in finding both Tapejaridae and Thalassodromidae within Tapejaromorpha, which corroborates the close relationship between thalassodromids and tapejarids, similar to Kellner.
Topology 1: Andres (2021). }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}
Topology 2: Pêgas (2024). }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} ==Subclades==