''Luopterus'' (meaning "

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 ...

's wing") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

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 ...

anurognathid Anurognathidae is a family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Five genera are known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of Germany; ''Jeholop ...

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 ...

containing only 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 ...

species ''L. mutoudengensis'' that is known from the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

Tiaojishan Formation The Tiaojishan Formation is a geological formation in Hebei and Liaoning, People's Republic of China, dating to the middle-late Jurassic period (Bathonian- Oxfordian stages). It is known for its exceptionally preserved fossils, including those of ...

of Qinglong, northern

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Province,

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 ...

. It was originally named as a species of ''

Dendrorhynchoides ''Dendrorhynchoides'' was a genus of anurognathid pterosaur containing only the holotype species ''D. curvidentatus'' that is known from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Qinglong, northern Hebei Province, China. The genus was first na ...

'' in 2012 but it was moved to the genus ''Luopterus'' in 2020. ''Luopterus'' was originally thought to be from 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 ...

, with a wingspan that is about , making it one of the smallest known pterosaurs.

History

In 2010 the discovery of the holotype, a juvenile, was announced, that proved that a more elongated tail was present after all, albeit not so long as the faked tail of the holotype of ''

'' (the animal it was first assigned to): about 85% of femur length. This specimen eventually was designated as the holotype of a new species, ''Dendrorhynchoides mutoudengensis'', by Hone and Lü in 2012. The specimen was originally stored in the Guilin Geological Museum and designated GLGMV 0002; later it was moved to the Jinzhou Paleontological Museum and designated JZMP-04-07-3. In 2020, Hone recognized that ''D. mutoudengensis'' was as distinct from ''D. curvidentatus'' as other species of anurognathids were from each other, and elevated it to a new genus and combination ''Luopterus mutoudengensis'', named after the late

Classification

In 2021, a

phylogenetic analysis 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 ...

conducted by Xuefang Wei and colleagues recovered ''Luopterus'' within the subfamily

Anurognathinae Anurognathidae is a family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Five genera are known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of Germany; ''Jeholo ...

, a subfamily within the family

Anurognathidae Anurognathidae is a family (biology), family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Five genera are known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of G ...

. Within this subfamily, ''Luopterus'' was in more derived position than ''Dendrorhynchoides''. Below is a cladogram representing their phylogenetic analysis:

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, China Monofenestratans Pterosaurs of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2020