Liaoxipterus

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Liaoxipterus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120  Ma
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Liaoxipterus brachycephalus.png
Holotype mandible
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Family: Istiodactylidae
Genus: Liaoxipterus
Dong & Lü, 2005
Species:
L. brachyognathus
Binomial name
Liaoxipterus brachyognathus
Dong & Lü, 2005

Liaoxipterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. The type species is Liaoxipterus brachyognathus. The genus name is derived from the discovery locality Liaoxi and a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name is derived from Greek brachys, "short" and gnathos, "jaw".

Contents

Description

Graphic model of the tongue of Liaoxipterus (bottom) in comparison with that of Haopterus (top) Lingual muscles of Haopterus and Liaoxipterus.png
Graphic model of the tongue of Liaoxipterus (bottom) in comparison with that of Haopterus (top)

The genus is based on holotype CAR-0018, an almost complete but crushed 161 millimetres long mandible (fused lower jaws), which differs from that of all known other ctenochasmatids in its short teeth and low tooth count (eleven per side). Also a detached hyoid is present. [1]

The jaw of Liaoxipterus had a rounded top filled with small, peg-like teeth. The shape of the teeth, and the anatomy of the hyoid (a bone that anchors the tongue muscles), suggest that it was an insect eater, and may even have had the capability to protrude its tongue in a manner similar to chameleons in order to catch insects. [2]

Classification

Liaoxipterus was originally classified by Dong Zhiming and Lü Junchang as a member of the Ctenochasmatidae. Wang and colleagues suggested in 2006 and 2008 that it was actually an istiodactylid instead, [3] an opinion that was accepted by Lü in 2015. In 2008 Lü concluded that Nurhachius was a subjective junior synonym of Liaoxipterus. [4] However, a 2012 analysis by Mark Witton found that these two istiodactylids were not identical and, more importantly, did not group together in a phylogenetic tree. Witton also noted that they did not actually group together in Lü's study either. [5]

The cladogram below follows Witton's 2012 analysis, wherein he found Istiodactylidae to consist of five taxa (the first three species listed are outgroup or reference taxa): [5]

The cladogram below is a topology recovered by Kellner et al. (2019). In the analyses, they recovered Liaoxipterus as the sister taxon of Istiodactylus within the family Istiodactylidae, and placed within the more inclusive group Istiodactyliformes. [6]

Istiodactyliformes

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallodactylidae</span> Family of ctenochasmatoid pterosaurs

Gallodactylidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Gallodactylids differed from other related pterosaurs in several distinct features, including fewer than 50 teeth present only in the jaw tips, and rounded crests present on the rear portion of the skull and jaws but not near the ends of their snouts. At least some species possessed jaw flanges, possibly used to bissect hard-shelled prey.

<i>Istiodactylus</i> Genus of istiodactylid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Istiodactylus is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago. The first fossil was discovered on the English Isle of Wight in 1887, and in 1901 became the holotype specimen of a new species, O. latidens, in the genus Ornithodesmus. This species was moved to its own genus, Istiodactylus, in 2001; this name is Greek for "sail finger". More specimens were described in 1913, and Istiodactylus was the only pterosaur known from three-dimensionally preserved fossils for much of the 20th century. In 2006, a species from China, I. sinensis, was assigned to Istiodactylus, but it has also been suggested to belong to a different genus.

<i>Feilongus</i> Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Feilongus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian–Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao, Liaoning, China.

<i>Haopterus</i> Genus of pteranodontoid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Haopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. Its fossil remains dated back 124.6 million years ago.

<i>Sinopterus</i> Genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Sinopterus is 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. Historically, there were multiple species attributed to the genus although only one is considered to be valid. Sinopterus is known for its proportionally large skull, which has a birdlike pointed beak, a long bony crest that starts with a tall premaxilla and goes back along the middle of the skull to form a point overhanging the rear of the skull, and its lack of teeth.

<i>Nurhachius</i> Genus of istiodactylid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Nurhachius is a genus of istiodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian to Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. Its fossil remains date back about 120 million years ago.

Longchengpterus, sometimes misspelled as "Lonchengopterus", is a genus of istiodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. Its fossil remains dated back about 120 million years ago.

<i>Liaoningopterus</i> Genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Liaoningopterus, sometimes misspelled as "Liaoningopteryx", was a genus of anhanguerid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China.

Hongshanopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Istiodactylidae</span> Family of istiodactyliform pterosaurs

Istiodactylidae is a small family of pterosaurs. This family was named in 2001 after the type genus Istiodactylus was discovered not to be a member of the genus Ornithodesmus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhamphorhynchidae</span> Family of breviquartossan pterosaurs from the Jurassic period

Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after Rhamphorhynchus, that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley. Members of the group possess no more than 11 pairs of teeth in the rostrum, a deltopectoral crest that is constricted at the base but expanded at the distal end, and a bent phalange on the fifth toe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euctenochasmatia</span> Clade of archaeopterodactyloid pterosaurs

Euctenochasmatia is an extinct group of pterodactyloid pterosaurs. It was named by David Unwin in 2003 as the group that contains the most recent common ancestor of Pterodactylus and Ctenochasma, and all their descendants.

Archaeoistiodactylus is an extinct genus of wukongopterid pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornithocheirae</span> Clade of pteranodontoid pterosaurs

Ornithocheirae is an extinct clade of pteranodontoid pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous to the Late Cretaceous of Asia, Europe, North America and South America. It was named by Harry Seeley in 1870 as a family that contains Ornithocheirus and its relatives. The name was emended to Ornithocheiridae, to match the requirements of the ICZN Code that a family-ranked clade should end with an -idae suffix. Brian Andres (2010) in his review of pterosaur phylogeny, defined the name Ornithocheirae phylogenetically, as a node-based taxon consisting of the last common ancestor of Anhanguera and Ornithocheirus and all its descendants. Thus Ornithocheirae is defined to include two families, the Anhangueridae and the Ornithocheiridae, following the opinion of Alexander Kellner and Andres that these families should not be synonymized based on their original phylogenetical definitions. However, subsequent studies in 2019 have found Ornithocheirae to be a more inclusive group containing both Anhangueria and Targaryendraconia.

<i>Chuanqilong</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Chuanqilong is a monospecific genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Liaoning Province, China that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now the Jiufotang Formation. The type and only species, Chuanqilong chaoyangensis, is known from a nearly complete skeleton with a skull of a juvenile individual. It was described in 2014 by Fenglu Han, Wenjie Zheng, Dongyu Hu, Xing Xu, and Paul M. Barrett. Chuanqilong shows many similarities with Liaoningosaurus and may represent a later ontogenetic stage of the taxon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornithocheiromorpha</span> Clade of pteranodontoid pterosaurs

Ornithocheiromorpha is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Fossil remains of this group date back from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods, around 140 to 92.5 million years ago. Ornithocheiromorphs were discovered worldwide except Antarctica, though most genera were recovered in Europe, Asia and South America. They were the most diverse and successful pterosaurs during the Early Cretaceous, but throughout the Late Cretaceous they were replaced by better adapted and more advanced pterosaur species such the pteranodontids and azhdarchoids. The Ornithocheiromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues, and they made Ornithocheiromorpha the most inclusive clade containing Ornithocheirus, but not Pteranodon.

Pangupterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of China. It was first described and named by Lü Junchang et al.

<i>Forfexopterus</i> Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Forfexopterus is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in China. It contains a single species, F. jeholensis, named from a mostly complete skeleton by Shunxing Jiang and colleagues in 2016. A second specimen, consisting of a wing, was described in 2020. While the first specimen is larger, it shows signs of being less mature than the second specimen, indicating that the developmental trajectories of Forfexopterus were variable. Like other ctenochasmatids, Forfexopterus had a long, low skull filled with many slender teeth; unlike other members of the group, however, it did not have a spatula-shaped snout tip or crests, and its teeth were more curved. A single characteristic distinguishes Forfexopterus from all other members of the wider group Archaeopterodactyloidea: of the four phalanx bones in its wing finger, the first was shorter than the second but longer than the third.

<i>Huaxiadraco</i> Genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period

Huaxiadraco 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.

References

  1. Dong, Z., and Lü, J. (2005). A New Ctenochasmatid Pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province. Acta Geologica Sinica79(2):164-167.
  2. Lü, Junchang (2015). "宽颌辽西翼龙(翼龙目)的舌器以及其摄食行为的启示" [The hyoid apparatus of Liaoxipterus brachycephalus (Pterosauria) and its implications for food-catching behavior]. Acta Geoscientica Sinica (in Chinese). 36 (3): 362–366. doi:10.3975/cagsb.2015.03.13.
  3. Xiaolin Wang; Diogenes de Almeida Campos; Zhonghe Zhou; Alexander W.A. Kellner (2008). "A primitive istiodactylid pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea) from the Jiufotang Formation (Early Cretaceous), northeast China". Zootaxa. 1813: 1–18. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1813.1.1.
  4. Lü, J., Xu, L. and Ji, Q. (2008), "Restudy of Liaoxipterus (Istiodactylidae: Pterosauria), with comments on the Chinese istiodactylid pterosaurs", In: Hone, D. W. E. and Buffetaut, E. (eds), Flugsaurier: pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer, Zitteliana B28: 229–241
  5. 1 2 Witton, Mark P. (2012). "New Insights into the Skull of Istiodactylus latidens (Ornithocheiroidea, Pterodactyloidea)". PLOS ONE. 7 (3): e33170. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...733170W. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033170 . PMC   3310040 . PMID   22470442.
  6. Kellner, Alexander W. A.; Caldwell, Michael W.; Holgado, Borja; Vecchia, Fabio M. Dalla; Nohra, Roy; Sayão, Juliana M.; Currie, Philip J. (2019). "First complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent: insight into pterodactyloid diversity". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 17875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54042-z . PMC   6884559 . PMID   31784545.