Eoazhdarcho

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Eoazhdarcho
Temporal range:
Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Clade:
Neopterodactyloidea
Genus: Eoazhdarcho
Lü & Ji, 2005
Species:
E. liaoxiensis
Binomial name
Eoazhdarcho liaoxiensis
Lü & Ji, 2005

Eoazhdarcho is a

China
.

Etymology

The genus name, Eoazhdarcho, combines a Greek eos, "dawn" with the name of the genus Azhdarcho, with the implication it was an early related form of the latter. The specific name, liaoxiensis, refers to the ancient region Liaoxi.[1]

Description

Eoazhdarcho is based on holotype GMN-03-11-02, a partial skeleton and lower jaw, and is distinguished from other pterosaurs by the proportions of its bones. The metacarpals are very elongated but the cervical vertebrae and hind limbs are not. It was relatively small by azhdarchoid standards, with a wingspan of about 1.6 meters (5.2 feet).[1]

Classification

The describers first assigned Eoazhdarcho to the Azhdarchidae in a basal position, and compared it to Azhdarcho.[1] However, in 2006 they published a cladistic analysis, determining that several forms, among them Eoazhdarcho, were united in a natural group, a separate clade that could be set apart from an Azhdarchidae proper.[2] In 2008 that clade was by Lü, Unwin and colleagues named the Chaoyangopteridae — the sister group of the Azhdarchidae within a much larger Azhdarchoidea — with Eoazhdarcho as one of the members.[3]

In 2014, a

Neopterodactyloidea.[5]
The cladogram of their analysis is presented on the right:

See also

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 128958556
    .
  2. ^ Lü, Junchang; Qiang Ji (2006). "Preliminary results of a phylogenetic analysis of the pterosaurs from western Liaoning and surrounding area" (PDF). Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea. 22 (1): 239–261. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  3. ^ Lü, J., Unwin, D.M., Xu, L., and Zhang, X. (2008). "A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China and its implications for pterosaur phylogeny and evolution." Naturwissenschaften, 95: 891–897
  4. PMID 24768054
    .
  5. .

External links