''Lingyuanopterus'' () is a genus of istiodactylid

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 Jiufotang Formation in western

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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The type and only species is ''L. camposi'', known from the holotype specimen IVPP V 17940 a near complete skull, mandible and atlas-axis complex.

Etymology

''Lingyuanopterus'' was named and described in 2022 by Xu ''et al''., (2022). The type species is ''L. camposi''. The generic name is derived from the locality in which the holotype specimen was found 'Lingyuan' () and the Latinized Greek noun 'pterus' (), meaning 'wing'. The specific name 'camposi' () honours Brazilian vertebrate paleontologist

Diogenes de Almeida Campos Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

for his contribution to China-Brazil pterosaur collaborative research.

Description

''Lingyuanopterus'' is only known from 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 ...

IVPP V 17940, which consists of a nearly complete skull, a nearly complete mandible, and an atlas-axis complex. The dorsal margin of the skull is smooth and slightly curved, with no parietal crest/sagittal crest. The rostrum is slightly deflected dorsally, with its anterior end thicker at the ventral margin. The bones on the right side of the skull are ventrally displaced due to its

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

Classification

In Xu ''et al''., (2022) ''Lingyuanopterus'' is recovered as an istiodactylid pterosaur. Cladogram after Xu ''et al''., (2022):

Paleobiology

Xu ''et al''., (2022) suggest that ''Lingyuanopterus'' was adapted for scavenging, citing several features including the well-interlocked labiolingually compressed teeth, slender maxillae, shallow rostra and mandibular symphyses and long retroarticular processes.

Notes

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107751301 Pteranodontoids Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Cretaceous China Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 2022