''Huaxiadraco'' (meaning "

Hua Xia ''Huaxia'' (華夏, ) is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people. Etymology The earliest ext ...

hina Hina may refer to: People and deities * Hina (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Hina (chiefess), a name given to several noble ladies who lived in ancient Hawaii * Hina (goddess), the name assigned to ...

dragon") 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 ...

tapejarid 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 primit ...

pterodactyloid Pterodactyloidea (derived from the Greek words ''πτερόν'' (''pterón'', for usual ''ptéryx'') "wing", and ''δάκτυλος'' (''dáktylos'') "finger" meaning "winged finger", "wing-finger" or "finger-wing") is one of the two traditional ...

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 ...

from the

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

-age

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

Jiufotang Formation The Jiufotang Formation (Chinese: 九佛堂组, pinyin: ''jiǔfótáng zǔ'') is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning which has yielded fossils of feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds, pterosaurs, and other organisms (see ...

of Chaoyang,

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China. It is the third valid genus of tapejarid from the

Jehol Biota The Jehol Biota includes all the living organisms – the ecosystem – of northeastern China between 133 and 120 million years ago. This is the Lower Cretaceous ecosystem which left fossils in the Yixian Formation and Jiufotang Formation. These d ...

, after ''

Sinopterus ''Sinopterus'' (meaning "Chinese wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. ...

'' and ''

Eopteranodon ''Eopteranodon'' (meaning "dawn '' Pteranodon'' (toothless wing)") is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao City, Liaoning, China. The genus was named in 2005 by paleontologists Lü Junc ...

''. It contains one species, ''Huaxiadraco corollatus'', originally assigned to the defunct genus ''

Huaxiapterus ''Huaxiapterus'' (meaning "Hua Xia hinawing") is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the second genus of tapejarid from this formation, afte ...

''.

History of discovery

''Huaxiadraco'' is based on the holotype ZMNH M8131, a nearly complete skeleton. It was originally assigned to the genus ''Huaxiapterus'' by

Lü Junchang Lü Junchang (; 1965 – 9 October 2018) was a Chinese palaeontologist and professor at the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. An expert on Mesozoic reptiles, he described and named dozens of dinosaur and pterosaur taxa ...

and colleagues in 2006, under the binomial name ''Huaxiapterus corollatus''. Lü ''et al.'' also named another species, ''Huaxiapterus benxiensis'', a year later. However, analyses have since found that these species are only distantly related to ''Huaxiapterus jii'', 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 ...

of ''Huaxiapterus'', and thus require a new genus name. A 2023 review of Chinese tapejarids by Pêgas ''et al.'' have confirmed these analyses, finding most of them (including ''Huaxipterus jii'') to belong to the coeval ''

Sinopterus dongi ''Sinopterus'' (meaning "Chinese wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. ...

'', although ''corollatus'' was found to belong to a distinct genus. They thus created ''Huaxiadraco'' for ''corollatus'', synonymized ''benxiensis'' with it, and referred specimens D2525 (previously considered ''Sinopterus''), BMPC 103, 104, and 105 to it.

Classification

The cladogram below follows the 2014 analysis by Brian Andres and colleagues, showing the placement of the three species assigned to ''Huaxiapterus''. within the clade Tapejaromorpha. In 2019, a different analysis, this time by

Alexander Kellner Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (born September 26, 1961) is a Brazilian geologist and paleontologist who is a leading expert in the field of studying pterosaurs. His research has focused mainly on fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous Period, i ...

and colleagues, had recovered the "''Huaxiapterus''" ''benxiensis'' and "''Huaxiapterus''" ''corollatus'' in a more derived position within the

Tapejarinae 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 primit ...

, sister taxon to both ''

'' and ''Sinopterus''. The cladogram of their analysis is shown below: Huaxiadraco specimen BPMC 103

In 2023, Pêgas ''et al.'' created a new dataset based on their reassessment of Chinese tapejarids. Their cladogram is shown below:

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, China Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Tapejaromorphs Fossil taxa described in 2023 Jiufotang fauna