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Chaoyangopterinae
Chaoyangopteridae (or chaoyangopterids) is a family of pterosaurs within the larger group Azhdarchoidea. Chaoyangopterids lived mostly during the Early Cretaceous period, though possible members, ''Microtuban'', '' Xericeps'' and ''Argentinadraco'', may extend the fossil range to the Late Cretaceous. History The clade Chaoyangopteridae was first defined in 2008 by Lü Junchang and David Unwin as: "'' Chaoyangopterus'', '' Shenzhoupterus'', their most recent common ancestor and all taxa more closely related to this clade than to '' Tapejara'', ''Tupuxuara'' or ''Quetzalcoatlus''". Based on neck and limb proportions, it has been suggested they occupied a similar ecological niche to that of azhdarchid pterosaurs, though it is possible they were more specialized as several genera occur in Liaoning, while azhdarchids usually occur by one genus in a specific location. Description Chaoyangopterids are distinguished from other pterosaurs by several traits of the nasoantorbital fenestra, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eoazhdarcho
''Eoazhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur named in 2005 by Chinese paleontologists Lü Junchang and Ji Qiang. The type and only known species is ''Eoazhdarcho liaoxiensis''. The fossil was found in the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. Etymology The genus name, ''Eoazhdarcho'', combines a Greek ''eos'', "dawn" with the name of the genus ''Azhdarcho'', with the implication it was an early related form of the latter. The specific name, ''liaoxiensis'', refers to the ancient region Liaoxi. Description ''Eoazhdarcho'' is based on holotype GMN-03-11-02, a partial skeleton and lower jaw, and is distinguished from other pterosaurs by the proportions of its bones. The metacarpals are very elongated but the cervical vertebrae and hind limbs are not. It was relatively small by azhdarchoid standards, with a wingspan of about 1.6 meters (5.2 feet). Classification The describers first assigned ''Eoazhdarcho'' t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jidapterus
''Jidapterus'' is a genus of chaoyangopterid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. The genus was in 2003 named by Dong Zhiming, Sun Yue-Wu and Wu Shao-Yuan. The type species is ''Jidapterus edentus''. The genus name is derived from ''Jílín Dàxué'' or "Jilin University" and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name means "toothless" in Latin. Description ''Jidapterus'' is based on holotype CAD-01, a nearly complete skeleton with partial skull. The skull is toothless and relatively long, with a straight and very pointed beak, and a large hole where the antorbital fenestra is joined with the nostrils. The eye sockets are small, and there is no crest along the lower jaw as seen in ornithocheiroids, although a short projection was present at the back of the skull. The wingspan of this individual was estimated to be . Classification The classification of ''Jidapterus'' has been unstable; the original auth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaoyangopterus Zhangi
''Chaoyangopterus'' is a genus of chaoyangopterid pterosaur known from a partial skeleton found in Liaoning, China. ''Chaoyangopterus'' was found in rocks dating back to the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Dapingfang, Chaoyang. Etymology ''Chaoyangopterus'' was named and described in 2003 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. The type species is ''Chaoyangopterus zhangi''. The genus name is derived from Chaoyang and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name honors journalist Zhang Wanlian for his efforts in protecting fossil sites. Description ''Chaoyangopterus'' is based on holotype IVPP V13397, which includes the front of the skull, the lower jaws, the neck vertebrae, the shoulder and pelvic girdles, and the limbs. The skull is about long and toothless, and its wingspan is estimated to have been around . Wang and Zhou concluded that it compared most closely to ''Nyctosaurus'' and classified it as a nyctosaurid, although they found that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaoyangopterus
''Chaoyangopterus'' is a genus of chaoyangopterid pterosaur known from a partial skeleton found in Liaoning, China. ''Chaoyangopterus'' was found in rocks dating back to the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Dapingfang, Chaoyang. Etymology ''Chaoyangopterus'' was named and described in 2003 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. The type species is ''Chaoyangopterus zhangi''. The genus name is derived from Chaoyang and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name honors journalist Zhang Wanlian for his efforts in protecting fossil sites. Description ''Chaoyangopterus'' is based on holotype IVPP V13397, which includes the front of the skull, the lower jaws, the neck vertebrae, the shoulder and pelvic girdles, and the limbs. The skull is about long and toothless, and its wingspan is estimated to have been around . Wang and Zhou concluded that it compared most closely to ''Nyctosaurus'' and classified it as a nyctosaurid, although they found that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shenzhoupterus
''Shenzhoupterus'' is a genus of chaoyangopterid pterosaur from the Jiufotang Formation of modern-day Liaoning, China. Fossil remains of ''Shenzhoupterus'' date back to the Early Cretaceous period, approximately 120 million years ago. Etymology ''Shenzhoupterus'' was named in 2008 by Lü Junchang, David Unwin, Xu Li and Zhang Xingliao. The type species is ''Shenzoupterus chaoyangensis''. The genus name is derived from ''Shenzhou'', an old name for China, "the divine land", and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name refers to Chaoyang. Description ''Shenzhoupterus'' is based on holotype HGM 41HIII-305A (Henan Geological Museum at Zhengzhou), the articulated skull and skeleton of a single individual, with a wingspan of . ''Shenzhoupterus'' lacked teeth, and had a crest on its skull that arched over the eyes and terminated in a small point toward the back of the head. The nasoantorbital fenestra (an opening incorporating the holes for the nostrils and the antor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neopterodactyloidea
Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, ''Tendaguripterus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic period. The largest azhdarchoids include members of the family Azhdarchidae, examples of these are ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Hatzegopteryx'', and ''Arambourgiania''. The Azhdarchoidea has been recovered as either closely related to the Ctenochasmatoidea, as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea within the Ornithocheiroidea, or within the Tapejaroidea, which in turn was also within the Ornithocheiroidea. Classification Azhdarchoidea was given a phylogenetic definition by David Unwin in 2003. Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and '' Tapejara'', and all its descendants.Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarchoidea
Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early Cretaceous, Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, ''Tendaguripterus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic period. The largest azhdarchoids include members of the family Azhdarchidae, examples of these are ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Hatzegopteryx'', and ''Arambourgiania''. The Azhdarchoidea has been recovered as either closely related to the Ctenochasmatoidea, as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea within the Ornithocheiroidea, or within the Tapejaroidea, which in turn was also within the Ornithocheiroidea. Classification Azhdarchoidea was given a phylogenetic definition by David Unwin in 2003. Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and ''Tapejara (pterosaur), Tapejara'', and all its descendants.Unwin, D. M., (20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapejaridae
Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most primitive genera were found in China, indicating that the family has an Asian origin. Description Tapejarids were small to medium-sized pterosaurs with several unique, shared characteristics, mainly relating to the skull. Most tapejarids possessed a bony crest arising from the snout (formed mostly by the premaxillary bones of the upper jaw tip). In some species, this bony crest is known to have supported an even larger crest of softer, fibrous tissue that extends back along the skull. Tapejarids are also characterized by their large nasoantorbital fenestra, the main opening in the skull in front of the eyes, which spans at least half the length of the entire skull in this family. Their eye sockets were small and pear-shaped. Studies of tapejarid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tupuxuara
''Tupuxuara'' is a genus of large, crested, and toothless Pterodactyloidea, pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Albian stage) of what is now the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group, Brazil, about 125 to 112 million years ago. ''Tupuxuara'' is a close relative of ''Thalassodromeus'', and both form a group that is either called Thalassodrominae (if placed within the family Tapejaridae) or Thalassodromidae (if placed within the clade Neoazhdarchia). Discovery The genus was named and described by Alexander Kellner and Diógenes de Almeida Campos in 1988.Kellner, A.W.A., and Campos, D.A. (1988). "Sobre un novo pterossauro com crista sagital da Bacia do Araripe, Cretaceo Inferior do Nordeste do Brasil. (Pterosauria, Tupuxuara, Cretaceo, Brasil)." ''Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências'', 60: 459–469. [in Portuguese] The type species is ''Tupuxuara longicristatus''. The genus, generic name refers to a familiar spirit from the mythology of the Tup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microtuban
''Microtuban'' is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of northern Lebanon. Discovery ''Microtuban'' is known only from a partially preserved skeleton lacking the skull, holotype SMNK PAL 6595. It was acquired from a local fossil dealer by the ''Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe'' and was, as can be deduced from the qualities of the stone matrix, collected in the locality of Hjoûla in a marine layer of the Sannine Formation, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 99.6–96 million years ago. The fossil dealer however, indicated it came from a quarry at nearby Hâqel. Regardless, it is only the second pterosaur fossil found in Lebanon and a rare example of a pterosaur from the African continental plate, to which the area in Cretaceous times belonged. In this period the site was located hundreds of miles from the mainland coastline. The specimen consists of the last cervical and first dorsal vertebrae, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarchoid Mandibles
Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, ''Tendaguripterus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic period. The largest azhdarchoids include members of the family Azhdarchidae, examples of these are ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ''Hatzegopteryx'', and ''Arambourgiania''. The Azhdarchoidea has been recovered as either closely related to the Ctenochasmatoidea, as the sister taxon of the Pteranodontoidea within the Ornithocheiroidea, or within the Tapejaroidea, which in turn was also within the Ornithocheiroidea. Classification Azhdarchoidea was given a phylogenetic definition by David Unwin in 2003. Unwin defined the group as the most recent common ancestor of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and '' Tapejara'', and all its descendants.Unwin, D. M., (2003). "On the phylogeny and evolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). Azhdarchids included some of the largest known flying animals of all time, but smaller cat-size members have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the Azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs ''Azhdarcho'', ''Quetzalcoatlus'', and ''Titanopteryx'' (now known as ''Arambourgiania''). They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. By the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappear from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth of pterosaurian fauna, including pteran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
