Longchengpterus

Last updated

Longchengpterus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Family: Istiodactylidae
Genus: Longchengpterus
Wang, Li, Duan, and Cheng, 2006
Species:
L. zhaoi
Binomial name
Longchengpterus zhaoi
Wang et al., 2006

Longchengpterus, sometimes misspelled as "Lonchengopterus", [1] [2] 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.

Contents

Etymology

The genus was named in 2006 by Wang Li, Li Li, Duan Ye and Cheng Shao-li. The genus name is derived from the old name of Chaoyang City, Longcheng, and a Latinized Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name honors Zhao Dayu, the president of Shenyang Normal University and a contributor to the founding of the Western Liaoning Institute of Mesozoic Paleontology.

Description

Longchengpterus is based on holotype LPM 00023, found at Yuanjiawa near Dapingfanga, a compressed incomplete skeleton and partial skull on a single plate. The posterior part of the skull has been damaged. It is elongated with a length of 262 millimeters (10.3 in). The large skull opening, the fenestra nasantorbitalis, is triangular in form and occupies much of the snout. The teeth in the upper jaw are concentrated in the front part and spaced far apart; their number is uncertain. The lower jaws have been well preserved. They are 220 millimeters (8.7 in) long and their symphysis is short. Twelve teeth are present in the dentary. They have a sharp point but are laterally compressed, curving slightly inwards.

The humerus, 88 millimeters (3.5 in) long, has a low deltopectoral crest and no pneumatic foramen. The fourth metacarpal is longer than the first phalanx of the wing finger. The wingspan was about 2 meters (6.6 ft). The pelvis has been heavily damaged. Part of a femur is present, its estimated length was 91 millimeters (3.6 in).

Classification

Longchengpterus has been assigned to the Istiodactylidae sharing with Istiodactylus tooth form and count as well as a large skull opening. A notable difference is the lack of a broad snout. It was the second istiodactylid named and the first from China, adding to the known pterosaur diversity from Early Cretaceous layers of China. [3]

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): [4]

Pterodactylus antiquus

Pteranodon longiceps

Coloborhynchus spielbergi

Hongshanopterus lacustris

Haopterus gracilis

Istiodactylidae

Nurhachius ignaciobritoi

Longchengpterus zhaoi

Istiodactylus latidens

Istiodactylus sinensis

Liaoxipterus brachyognathus

See also

Related Research Articles

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

Caulkicephalus is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago.

Boreopterus is a genus of boreopterid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Dalian, Liaoning, China.

<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>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.

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".

<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.

<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.

<i>Zhenyuanopterus</i> Genus of boreopterid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Zhenyuanopterus is a genus of boreopterid pterosaur which is known from Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. It contains one species, Zhenyuanopterus longirostris, which was first described and named by Lü Junchang.

<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.

Gwawinapterus beardi is a species of saurodontid ichthyodectiform fish from the Late Cretaceous period of British Columbia, Canada. While initially described as a very late-surviving member of the pterosaur family Istiodactylidae, further examination has cast doubt on the identification of the specimen as a pterosaur, and research published in 2012 identified the remains as having come from a saurodontid fish.

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

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

Guidraco is an extinct genus of toothed pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeast China. According to many recent studies, Guidraco is a member of the group Anhanguerinae, a subfamily belonging to the larger group Anhangueridae.

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

Moganopterus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning Province, China.

<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>Mimodactylus</i> Genus of Late Cretaceous pterosaur

Mimodactylus is a genus of istiodactyliform pterosaur that lived in what is now Lebanon during the Late Cretaceous, 95 million years ago. The only known specimen was discovered in a limestone quarry near the town of Hjoula. The owner of the quarry allowed the specimen to be prepared and scientifically described by an international team of researchers, and when it was eventually sold, the buyer donated it to the MIM Museum in Beirut. In 2019, the researchers named the new genus and species Mimodactylus libanensis; the generic name refers to the MIM Museum, combined with the Greek word daktylos for "digit", and the specific name refers to Lebanon. The well-preserved holotype specimen is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent, and the third pterosaur fossil known from Lebanon.

References

  1. Andres, B.; Clark, J.; Xu, X. (2014). "The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group". Current Biology . 24 (9): 1011–6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.030 . PMID   24768054.
  2. Upchurch, P.; Andres, B.B.; Butler, R.J.; Barrett, P.M. (2015). "An analysis of pterosaurian biogeography: implications for the evolutionary history and fossil record quality of the first flying vertebrates". Historical Biology. 27 (6): 697–717. doi:10.1080/08912963.2014.939077. PMC   4536946 . PMID   26339122.
  3. Wang, L., Li, L., Duan, Y., and Cheng, S.L. (2006). A new istiodactylid pterosaur from western Liaoning, China. Geological Bulletin of China25(6):737-740.
  4. 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.