Huaxiadraco

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Huaxiadraco
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120  Ma
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Huaxiapterus corollatus holotype.png
Holotype specimen
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Family: Tapejaridae
Subfamily: Sinopterinae
Genus: Huaxiadraco
Pêgas et al., 2023
Type species
Huaxiapterus corollatus
et al., 2006
Synonyms
  • Huaxiapterus corollatus
    (Lü et al., 2006)
  • Huaxiapterus benxiensis
    (Lü et al., 2007)

Huaxiadraco (meaning "Hua Xia [China] dragon") is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the third valid genus of tapejarid from the Jehol Biota, after Sinopterus and Eopteranodon . It contains one species, Huaxiadraco corollatus, originally assigned to the defunct genus Huaxiapterus . [1]

Contents

History of discovery

Holotype of Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a junior synonym of H. corollatus Huaxiapterus benxiensis holotype.png
Holotype of Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a junior synonym of H. corollatus

Huaxiadraco is based on the holotype ZMNH M8131, a nearly complete skeleton. It was originally assigned to the genus Huaxiapterus by Lü Junchang and colleagues in 2006, under the binomial name Huaxiapterus corollatus. [2] et al. also named another species, Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a year later. [3] However, analyses have since found that these species are only distantly related to Huaxiapterus jii, [4] the type species of Huaxiapterus, and thus require a new genus name. [5] 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 , 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. [1]

Classification

Life restorations of Sinopterus and Huaxiadraco in Jiufotang Jiufotang tapejarids.png
Life restorations of Sinopterus and Huaxiadraco in Jiufotang

Based on their reassessment of the Sinopterus species-complex, Pêgas et al. modified their working dataset, previously used in the redescription of Aerotitan. [6] Their cladogram is shown below: [1]

Tapejaromorpha

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pêgas, R. V.; Zhoi, X.; Jin, X.; Wang, K.; Ma, W. (2023). "A taxonomic revision of the Sinopterus complex (Pterosauria, Tapejaridae) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, with the new genus Huaxiadraco". PeerJ. 11. e14829. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14829 . PMC   9922500 . PMID   36788812.
  2. Lü, J.; Jin, X.; Unwin, D.M.; Zhao, L.; Azuma, Y.; Ji, Q. (2006). "A new species of Huaxiapterus (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China with comments on the systematics of tapejarid pterosaurs". Acta Geologica Sinica. 80 (3): 315–326. Bibcode:2006AcGlS..80..315L. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2006.tb00251.x. S2CID   129851866.
  3. Junchang, Lü; Yubo, Gao; Lida, Xing; Zhixin, Li; Zhenyuan, Sun (2007). "New species of Huaxiapterus from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning". Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition. 81 (5): 683–687. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb00992.x. S2CID   128877390.
  4. Andres, B.; Clark, J.; Xu, X. (2014). "The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group". Current Biology. 24 (9): 1011–6. Bibcode:2014CBio...24.1011A. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.030 . PMID   24768054.
  5. Pinheiro, F.L.; Fortier, D.C.; Schultz, C.L.; De Andrade, J.A.F.G.; Bantim, R.A.M. (2011). "New information on Tupandactylus imperator, with comments on the relationships of Tapejaridae (Pterosauria)". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56: 567–580. doi: 10.4202/app.2010.0057 .
  6. Pêgas, Rodrigo V.; Holgado, Borja; Ortiz David, Leonardo D.; Baiano, Mattia A.; Costa, Fabiana R. (January 2022). "On the pterosaur Aerotitan sudamericanus (Neuquén Basin, Upper Cretaceous of Argentina), with comments on azhdarchoid phylogeny and jaw anatomy". Cretaceous Research. 129: 104998. Bibcode:2022CrRes.12904998P. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104998. ISSN   0195-6671.