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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] |
Phosphatodraco
''Phosphatodraco'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous of what is now Morocco. In 2000, a pterosaur specimen consisting of five cervical (neck) vertebrae was discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Phosphatic Basin. The specimen was made the holotype of the new genus and species ''Phosphatodraco mauritanicus'' in 2003; the genus name means " dragon from the phosphates", and the specific name refers to the region of Mauretania. ''Phosphatodraco'' was the first Late Cretaceous pterosaur known from North Africa, and the second pterosaur genus described from Morocco. It is one of the only known azhdarchids preserving a relatively complete neck, and was one of the last known pterosaurs. Additional cervical vertebrae have since been assigned to the genus, and it has been suggested that fossils of the pterosaur '' Tethydraco'' represent wing elements of ''Phosphatodraco''. Due to the fragmentary nature of the holotype cervical vertebrae, there has been co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger. There were two major types of pterosaurs. Basal pterosaurs (also called 'non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs' or 'rhamphorhynchoids') were smaller animals with fully toothed jaws and, typically, long tails. Their wide wing membranes probably included and connected the hind legs. On the ground, they would have had an awkward sprawling posture, but the anatomy of their joints and strong claws would have made them effective climbers, and some may have even lived in trees. Basal pterosaurs were insectiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argentinadraco
''Argentinadraco'' (meaning "Argentina dragon") is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation of Argentina. It contains a single species, ''A. barrealensis'', named in 2017 by Alexander Kellner and Jorge Calvo. ''Argentinadraco'' is unusual for bearing a bottom jaw with a concave bottom edge, as well as a pair of ridges and depressions on the top surface. These features distinguish it from all other azhdarchoid groups, complicating its assignment, but it may belong to the Chaoyangopteridae. The ridges on the lower jaw may have been used to feed on small invertebrates in loose sediment within the system of lakes and rivers that it resided in. Discovery and naming ''Argentinadraco'' is known from a single partial lower jaw, missing the rear end. The specimen is also compressed, especially near the tip of the jaw. Catalogued as MUCPv-1137 in the Centro Paleontológico Lago Barreales (CePaLB) of the National University of Comahue, it wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarcho
''Azhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation (middle Turonian stage, about 92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan. It is known from fragmentary remains including the distinctive, elongated neck vertebrae that characterizes members of the family Azhdarchidae, a family that includes many giant pterosaurs such as ''Quetzalcoatlus''. The name ''Azhdarcho'' comes from the Persian word '' azhdar'' (), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology. The type species is ''Azhdarcho lancicollis''. The specific epithet ''lancicollis'' is derived from the Latin words ''lancea'' (meaning "lance" or "spear") and ''collum'' ("neck"). History The fossil remains of ''Azhdarcho'' were recovered in the Kyzyl Kum desert (from the Taykarshinskaya unit of the Bissekty Formation) by Lev A. Nesov during expeditions to Central Asia in 1974–1981. The type specimen, given the catalog number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatzegopteryx
''Hatzegopteryx'' ("Hațeg basin wing") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuş Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, ''Hatzegopteryx thambema'', named by Buffetaut ''et al.'' in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of . Unusually among giant azhdarchids, ''Hatzegopteryx'' had a very wide skull bearing large muscular attachments; bones with a spongy internal texture instead of hollow; and a short, robust, and heavily muscled neck measuring long, which was about half the length of other azhdarchids with comparable wingspans, and was capable of withstanding strong bending forces. ''Hatzegopteryx'' inhabited Hațeg Island, an island situated in the Cret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aralazhdarcho
''Aralazhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Santonian to the early Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous period of Bostobe Svita in Kazakhstan. The type and only known species is ''Aralazhdarcho bostobensis''. Etymology ''Aralazhdarcho'' was named in 2007 by Alexander Averianov. In 2004, the holotype had already been described. (''Paleontol. J.'' 38 (4), 426–436) The genus name, ''Aralazhdarcho'', is derived from the Aral Sea and the related genus ''Azhdarcho'', while the specific name, ''bostobensis'', refers to the Bostobe Formation. Description ''Aralazhdarcho'' is based on holotype ZIN PH, no. 9/43, consisting of the anterior end of a neck vertebra, probably the fifth or sixth. Several paratypes have also been referred: a jugal, a toothless lower jaw fragment, centra from vertebrae, the distal end of a scapula, the proximal end of a second phalanx of the left wing finger and the proximal end of a left femur, of which, however, the head has broken off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarcho Lancicollis
''Azhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation (middle Turonian stage, about 92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan. It is known from fragmentary remains including the distinctive, elongated neck vertebrae that characterizes members of the family Azhdarchidae, a family that includes many giant pterosaurs such as ''Quetzalcoatlus''. The name ''Azhdarcho'' comes from the Persian word '' azhdar'' (), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology. The type species is ''Azhdarcho lancicollis''. The specific epithet ''lancicollis'' is derived from the Latin words ''lancea'' (meaning "lance" or "spear") and ''collum'' ("neck"). History The fossil remains of ''Azhdarcho'' were recovered in the Kyzyl Kum desert (from the Taykarshinskaya unit of the Bissekty Formation) by Lev A. Nesov during expeditions to Central Asia in 1974–1981. The type specimen, given the catalog number Ц ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bogolubovia
''Bogolubovia'' is a genus of pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (early Campanian) Rybushka Formation of Petrovsk, Saratov Oblast, Russia. It is named for Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolubov, the paleontologist who discovered the remains in 1914. It was in 1991 assigned to the Azhdarchidae. Wellnhofer (1991) however, retained it in the Pteranodontidae. Bogolubov had initially assigned the specimen, consisting of a single partial large cervical vertebra, as a new species of ''Ornithostoma'', ''O. orientalis''. It was later reclassified as a species of '' Pteranodon'', before being assigned its own genus by Lev Nesov and Alexander Yarkov in 1989.Bogolubov, N.N. (1914). "O pozvonk’ pterodaktilya uz’ vyerkhnyem’lovyikh’ otlozhyenii Saratovskoi gubyernii (A propos d'une vertèbre de Pterodactyle des depots cretacés superieurs du gouvernment de Sartoff). n a pterodactyle vertebra from Upper Cretaceous deposits of the Government of Saratoff" ''Annuaire geologique et mineralogique d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arambourgiania
''Arambourgiania'' is an extinct genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of Jordan, and possibly the United States.Harrell, T. Lynn Jr.; Gibson, Michael A.; Langston, Wann Jr. (2016). "A cervical vertebra of ''Arambourgiania philadelphiae'' (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the Late Campanian micaceous facies of the Coon Creek Formation in McNairy County, Tennessee, USA" ''Bull. Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist.'' 33:94–103 ''Arambourgiania'' was among the largest members of its family, the Azhdarchidae, and it is also one of the largest flying animals ever known. The incomplete left ulna of the "Sidi Chennane azhdarchid" from Morocco may have also belonged to ''Arambourgiania''. History of discovery In the early 1940s, a railway worker during repairs on the Amman-Damascus railroad near Russeifa found a two foot long fossil bone. In 1943 this was acquired by the director of a nearby phosphate mine, Amin Kawar, who brought it to the attention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thanatosdrakon
''Thanatosdrakon'' () (meaning "dragon of death") is a genus of quetzalcoatline azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Upper Coniacian–Lower Santonian) Plottier Formation of the Neuquén Basin in western Argentina (Andes mountain range). The genus name is derived from the Greek words ''thanatos'' (=death) and ''drakon'' (=dragon), while the specific name is a Quechuan word meaning "flying serpent" and refers to the Incan deity Amaru. The type and only species is ''Thanatosdrakon amaru'', known from two specimens consisting of several well-preserved axial and appendicular bones including material previously undescribed in giant azhdarchids (e.g. complete notarium, dorsosacral vertebrae and caudal vertebra). ''Thanatosdrakon'' is one of the oldest known members of the Quetzalcoatlinae. ''T. amaru'' lived from about 90 to 86 million years ago. Description ''Thanatosdrakon'' is known from two well-preserved specimens first described in 2018. The holotype, UNCUYO-LD 307 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryodrakon
''Cryodrakon'' ("cold dragon") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Canada. It contains a single species, ''Cryodrakon boreas'', recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation. Discovery and history Since 1972, bones of large azhdarchids have been reported from Alberta, representing the first pterosaur finds from Canada. These were sometimes referred to a ''Quetzalcoatlus'' sp. Later research by Michael Habib indicated that they represented a taxon new to science. In 2019, the type species ''Cryodrakon boreas'' was named and described by David William Elliott Hone, Michael Habib and François Therrien. The generic name is derived from the Greek κρύος, ''kryos'', "icy cold", and δράκων, ''drakon'', "dragon". The specific name means "belonging to '' Boreas'', the north wind", or simply "northern". Habib had considered the name ''Cryodrakon viserion'', as a reference to the ice dragon in ''Game of Thrones''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellnhopterus
''Wellnhopterus'' () is an Azhdarchidae, azhdarchid pterosaur recovered from the Late Cretaceous Javelina Formation in Texas that was previously identified as a thalassodrominae, thalassodromine. It consists of a set of upper and lower jaws (TMM 42489-2), as well as some cervical vertebrae (TMM 42489-2.3 to 42489-2.8) and a fragmentary long bone (TMM 42489-2.9). In July 2021, the jaws were given the genus name "''Javelinadactylus''" (meaning "Javelina Finger"), with the type species, type and only species as "''J. sagebieli''"; however, this article has now been Retractions in academic publishing, retracted. In a paper published in December 2021, the complete holotype was independently named ''Wellnhopterus'', with the only species being ''W. brevirostris''. As of 2022, this is the formal name of this pterosaur. Discovery and naming In March 1986, jaws and neck vertebrae of a large pterosaur were discovered in Brewster County by preparator Robert Rainey. In 1991, Peter Wellnhofer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
