''Angustinaripterus'' was a basal

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...

, belonging to the

breviquartossan Novialoidea (meaning "new wings") is an extinct clade of macronychopteran pterosaurs that lived from the latest Early Jurassic to the latest Late Cretaceous (early Toarcian to late Maastrichtian ageBarrett, P. M., Butler, R. J., Edwards, N. P. ...

family

Rhamphorhynchidae Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after '' Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinit ...

(more specifically within the subfamily

Rhamphorhynchinae Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after ''Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.Seeley, H.G. (1870). "The Orithosauria: An Elementary Study o ...

) and discovered at Dashanpu near

Zigong Zigong (, ), formed by the merger of the two former towns of Ziliujing (Tzuliuching, literally "self-flow well") and Gongjing (Kungching, literally "offering well"), is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan, southwestern China. Demographics Accord ...

in the

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

province of China.

Discovery and etymology

Angustinaripterus longicephalus He, 1983

''Angustinaripterus'' was named in 1983 by He Xinlu. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

is ''Angustinaripterus longicephalus''. The genus name is derived from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''angustus'', "narrow" and ''naris'', "nostril", combined with Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name is derived from Latin ''longus'', "long", and Greek ''kephale'', "head". The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

, ZDM T8001, is a single skull with lower jaws, found in 1981 by researchers from the

Zigong Historical Museum of the Salt Industry Zigong (, ), formed by the merger of the two former towns of Ziliujing (Tzuliuching, literally "self-flow well") and Gongjing (Kungching, literally "offering well"), is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan, southwestern China. Demographics Accord ...

, in the

Xiashaximiao Formation The Shaximiao Formation () is a Middle to Late Jurassic aged geological formation in Sichuan, China, most notable for the wealth of dinosaurs fossils that have been excavated from its strata. The Shaximiao Formation is exposed in and around the ...

(

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age. St ...

Description

The skull of ''Angustinaripterus'', of which the left side is severely damaged, is very elongated and flat. The back part is missing; in its preserved state it has a length of ; the total length in a complete state was estimated at . On its top is a low crest, high. The nares are long, slit-like and positioned above and in front of the large skull openings, the ''fenestrae antorbitales'', with which they are not confluent. Of the jaws, which are very straight, the front part is lacking. There are six pairs of teeth in the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The ...

e and three pairs in the

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has ...

e. In the

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...

there are at least ten pairs of teeth, perhaps twelve. The back teeth are small, the front teeth are very long, robust and curved, pointing moderately forward. At the front they form a large, intermeshing "prey grab", that may have been used to snatch fish from the water surface. The teeth of ''Angustinaripterus'' resemble those of ''

Dorygnathus ''Dorygnathus'' ("spear jaw") was a genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur that lived in Europe during the Early Jurassic period, when shallow seas flooded much of the continent. It had a short () wingspan, and a relatively small triangular ste ...

''.

Peter Wellnhofer Peter Wellnhofer (born Munich, 1936) is a German paleontologist at the Bayerische Staatssammlung fur Paläontologie in Munich. He is best known for his work on the various fossil specimens of ''Archaeopteryx'' or "Urvogel", the first known bird. W ...

in 1991, assuming the skull length was , estimated the wingspan at .

Classification

Xinlu placed ''Angustinaripterus'' into the family

. Because of the derived morphology and the large geographical distance with comparable European forms He also created a special subfamily

Angustinaripterinae Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after '' Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.Seeley, H.G. (1870). "The Orithosauria: An Elementary Stud ...

, of which '' Angustinaripterus'' itself is the only known member; because of this redundancy the concept is rarely used. He concluded that ''Angustinaripterus'' was directly related to the

Scaphognathinae Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after ''Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family (biology), family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.Seeley, H.G. (1870). "The Orithosauria: An ...

David Unwin David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

however, considers it a member of the other rhamphorhynchid subgroup: the

. The ''cladogram'' (family tree) below is a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis published by the paleontologists Brian Andres & Timothy Myers in 2013. They recovered ''Angustinaripterus'' as derived rhamphorhynchine, within the tribe

Angustinaripterini Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after '' Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.Seeley, H.G. (1870). "The Orithosauria: An Elementary Stud ...

, sister taxon to '' Sericipterus''.

References

The Pterosaur Database (pdf)

Literature

*He, Xinlu; Yang, Daihuan; & Su, Chunkang, 1983, "A New Pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Dashanpu, Zigong, Sichuan", ''Journal of the Chengdu College of Geology'' supplement 1, pp. 27–33 itle in 1991 English translation by Will Downs {{portalbar, Paleontology, China Middle Jurassic pterosaurs of Asia Rhamphorhynchids Fossil taxa described in 1983

Discovery and etymology

Description

Classification

See also

References

Literature