Huaxiapterus

Huaxiapterus (meaning "Hua Xia [China] wing") is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the second genus of tapejarid from this formation, after Sinopterus. Three species are known, though they may not actually form a natural group with each other. It was first named by Lü Junchang and Yuan Chongxi.

Huaxiapterus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120 Ma
↓
Fossil specimen, Beijing Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Family: †Tapejaridae
Subfamily: †Sinopterinae
Genus: †Huaxiapterus
Lü & Yuan, 2005
Species
  • †H. jii Lü & Yuan, 2005 (type)
  • †"H." corollatus Lü et al., 2006
  • †"H." benxiensis Lü et al., 2007
  • †H. atavismus Lü et al., 2016

Discovery
Fossil in Inner Mongolia Museum

The type species of Huaxiapterus is H. jii, is based on GMN-03-11-001, a nearly complete skeleton and skull.[1] While it was initially separated from the closely related Sinopterus by several characters including its larger size and larger crest, later studies showed that it was in fact more closely related to Sinopterus dongi than to either of the other two species of Huaxiapterus.[2] Some researchers have considered H. jii to be a species of Sinopterus for this reason, though a more thorough analysis has suggested it is slightly more primitive than Sinopterus.[3]

The second species, "H." corollatus, is based on ZMNH M8131, another nearly complete skeleton from the same formation.[4] The third species "H." benxiensis, based on specimen BXGM V0011, also comes from Liaoning.[5] Because H. jii is the type species of its genus, and the other two species are not closely related to it, they will likely be renamed in the future.[6]

An additional species, H. atavismus, was named in 2016 based on a small specimen XHPM 1009. It can be distinguished from other species by a groove on the second and third wing digits, a trait that is otherwise only known in the more basal rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs; it was named after this trait, which appears to be an atavism (or "evolutionary throwback").[7]

Classification

The cladogram below follows the 2014 analysis Andres and colleagues.[3]

 Azhdarchoidea 
 

 Neoazhdarchia

 
Tapejaromorpha
 

Bennettazhia oregonensis

 
 
 
 

Eopteranodon lii

 
 
 

"Sinopterus" gui

 
 

Nemicolopterus crypticus

 
 
 
 
 

Huaxiapterus jii

 
Tapejaridae
 

Sinopterus dongi

 
Tapejarinae
 
 

"Huaxiapterus" benxiensis

 
 

"Huaxiapterus" corollatus

 
 
Tapejarini
 
 

Tupandactylus navigans

 
 

Tupandactylus imperator

 
 
 
 

Bakonydraco galaczi

 
 
 

Europejara olcadesorum

 
 

Tapejara wellnhoferi

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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See also

References
  1. Lü, J.; Yuan, C. (2005). "New tapejarid pterosaur from Western Liaoning, China". Acta Geologica Sinica. 79 (4): 453–458. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2005.tb00911.x.
  2. Kellner, A.W.A.; Campos, D.A. (2007). "Short note on the ingroup relationships of the Tapejaridae (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea)". Boletim do Museu Nacional. 75: 1–14.
  3. 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.
  4. 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. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2006.tb00251.x.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Lu, Junchang; Teng, Fangfang; Sun, Deyu; Shen, Caizhi; Li, Guoqing; Gao, Xia; Liu, Hanfeng (2016). "The Toothless Pterosaurs from China". Acta Geologica Sinica. 90 (9): 2513–2525.
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