''Dsungaripterus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

dsungaripterid Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings. Classification In 1964 Young created a Family (biology), family to ...

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 ...

with an average wingspan of . ''Dsungaripterus'' lived during the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

in what is now China, and its first fossil was found in the

Junggar Basin The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Heave ...

Description

''Dsungaripterus weii'' had a wing span of . Like most dsungaripteroids it had a rather robust skeleton with thick walls and stouty bodily proportions, suggesting a mostly terrestrial lifestyle. The flight style of these animals is unclear, but it was probably punctuated by abrupt landings and extensive flapping. The skull of ''Dsungaripterus'', long, bore a low bone crest that ran down from the base of the skull to halfway to the beak. ''Dsungaripteruss head and neck were together almost long. Its most notable feature are its long, narrow, upcurved jaws with a pointed tip. It had no teeth in the front part of its jaws, which were probably used to remove prey from cracks in rocks and/or the sandy, muddy inland environments it inhabited. It had knobbly flat teeth more to the back of the jaw that were well suited for crushing the armor of shellfish or other hard objects. ''Dsungaripterus'' also had a palate similar to that of

azhdarchoid 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 o ...

pterosaurs.

History of discovery

Dsungaripterus-Paleozoological Museum of China

''Dsungaripterus'' was described in 1964 named by

Yang Zhongjian Yang Zhongjian, also Yang Chung-chien (; 1 June 1897 – 15 January 1979), courtesy name Keqiang (), also known as C.C. (Chung Chien) Young, was a Chinese paleontologist and zoologist. He was one of China's foremost vertebrate paleontologists. H ...

. The genus name combines a reference to the Junggar Basin with a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". 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 ''Dsungaripterus weii'', the specific name honoring paleontologist C.M. Wei of the Palaeontological Division, Institute of Science, Bureau of Petroleum of

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. 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 several ...

is IVPP V-2776, a partial skull and skeleton. From 1973 more material has been found including almost complete skulls. In 1980

Peter Galton Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...

renamed ''Pterodactylus brancai'' (Reck 1931), a form from a late Jurassic African formation, into ''Dsungaripterus brancai'', but the identification is now commonly rejected. In 1982 Natasha Bakhurina named a new species, ''Dsungaripterus parvus'', based on a smaller skeleton from

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. Later, this was renamed into "Phobetor", a preoccupied name, and in 2009 concluded to be identical to ''

Noripterus ''Noripterus'' (meaning "lake wing" from Mongolian ''nuur'', "lake" and Greek ''pteron'', "wing") is a genus of dsungaripterid pterodactyloid pterosaur from Lower Cretaceous-age Lianmuqin Formation in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang, China. It wa ...

''. In 2002 a ''Dsungaripterus'' wing finger phalanx was reported from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Classification

''Dsungaripterus'' was classified by Yang as a member of the

Dsungaripteridae Dsungaripteridae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. They were robust pterosaurs with good terrestrial abilities and flight honed for inland settings. Classification In 1964 Young created a family to place the recently ...

. Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

showing the results of 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 presented by Andres and colleagues in 2014. They recovered ''Dsungaripterus'' within the clade

Dsungaripteromorpha 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 o ...

(a subgroup within the Azhdarchoidea), more specifically within the Dsungaripteridae, sister taxon to ''

Domeykodactylus ''Domeykodactylus'' is an extinct genus of dsungaripterid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian-Albian)-age Santa Ana Formation at Quebrada de la Carreta in Antofagasta, Chile. Discovery and naming The genus was named in 2000 by Da ...

''. Their cladogram is shown below. In 2019, a different topology, this time by Kellner and colleagues, was published. In this study, ''Dsungaripterus'' was recovered outside the Azhdarchoidea, within the larger group

Tapejaroidea Tapejaroidea (or tapejaroids) is a group of pterosaurs belonging to the clade Ornithocheiroidea. Tapejaroids lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, with one possible member, ''Tendaguripterus'', extending the fossil range to the Late Ju ...

, sister taxon to ''Noripterus''. The cladogram of the analysis is shown below.

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, China Dsungaripterids Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Taxa named by Yang Zhongjian Fossil taxa described in 1964

Description

History of discovery

Classification

See also

References