The
Torukjara fossil material was discovered in the Pterosaur Graveyard locality which likely belongs to the
Rio Paraná Formation (
Caiuá Group) of
Cruzeiro do Oeste,
Paraná State, Brazil. The
holotype specimen (CP.V 8175), discovered in 2014, consists of a partial skeleton including a well-preserved skull. This specimen was first described in 2022 as belonging to the coeval
Caiuajara. In 2024, Pêgas
described Torukjara bandeirae as a new genus and species of tapejarid pterosaurs based on these fossil remains. The
generic name,
Torukjara, combines a reference to the fictional
toruk creature of the
Avatar media franchise with the
Tupi word "
jara", meaning "lord", a suffix often used for tapejarid genera. The
specific name,
bandeirae, honours Kamila Bandeira, a Brazilian palaeontologist who first studied the possibility that multiple species could be present in the fossil material. == Classification ==