The Maeharyholotype specimen, CAPPA/UFSM 0300, was discovered between 2002 and 2005 in layers of the Caturrita Formation (Linha São Luiz Site, Candelária Sequence, Santa Maria Supersequence) near Faxinal do Soturno, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The holotype consists of a partial skull, vertebral centra, and a fragmentary scapula. Another specimen, UFRGS-PV-0769-T, was also assigned to the genus, consisting of a left maxilla. The maxilla was originally described in 2010 as belonging to the supposed basal pterosaur Faxinalipterus.[2] However, when Faxinalipterus was reinterpreted as a lagerpetid in 2022, the bone was removed from its hypodigm and reidentified as belonging to Maehary.[1]
In 2022, Kellner et al. described Maehary bonapartei as a new genus and species of pterosauromorph. The generic name, "Maehary" is derived from the Guarani-Kaiowa phrase "Ma’ehary", roughly translating to "who looks to the sky", in reference to the pterosauromorph affinities of the taxon. The specific name, "bonapartei", honors the Argentine paleontologist José F. Bonaparte.[1]
A later analysis has suggested that Maehary may actually represent a gracilisuchid member of the clade Pseudosuchia, rather than a pterosauromorph.[3]
Classification
Kellner et al. (2022) recovered Maehary as the earliest diverging member of Pterosauromorpha. The results of their phylogenetic analysis are shown below:[1]
In the 2023 description of the lagerpetid Venetoraptor, Müller et al. corrected some of the phylogenetic characters that led to the recovery of Maehary as a pterosauromorph. The updated analysis recovered it as a derived member of the suchian clade Gracilisuchidae, as the sister taxon to Gracilisuchus. The authors did not discuss the updated phylogenetic position. The results of their phylogenetic analysis are shown below.[3]
^J. F. Bonaparte, C. L. Schultz, and M. B. Soares. (2010). Pterosauria from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil. In S. Bandyopadhyay (ed.), New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 132:63-71.
