Jeholopterus

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Jeholopterus
Temporal range:
Ma
Skeletal reconstruction in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park, Colorado
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Family: †Anurognathidae
Genus: †Jeholopterus
Wang et al., 2002
Type species
†Jeholopterus ningchengensis
Wang et al., 2002

Jeholopterus was a small

anurognathid pterosaur known from the Middle to Late Jurassic[1] Daohugou Beds of the Tiaojishan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China,[2][1] and possibly the Early Cretaceous Sinuiju Formation of North Korea.[3]

Naming

The genus was named in 2002 by Wang Xiaolin, Zhou Zhonghe and Xu Xing. The type species, the only known, is Jeholopterus ningchengensis. The genus name is derived from its place of discovery, Jehol in China, and a Latinized Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name refers to Ningcheng County.

Description

Artist's impression

The type species is based on

pycnofibres. The fibers are preserved around the body of the specimen in a "halo." Wing tissue is preserved, though its extent is debatable, including the exact points of attachment to the legs (or if it is attached to the legs at all). In 2009 Alexander Kellner published a study reporting the presence of three layers of fibers in the wing, allowing the animal to precisely adapt the wing profile.[4]

anurognathid
jaw shape, notice Jeholopterus (C)

As an anurognathid, Jeholopterus shows the skull form typical for this group, being wider than it was long, at 28 millimeters (1.1 in), with a very broad mouth. Most teeth are small and peg-like, but some are longer and recurved. The neck was short with seven or eight cervical vertebrae. Twelve or thirteen dorsal vertebrae are present and three sacrals. There are five pairs of belly ribs. The tail vertebrae have not been preserved. The describers argue that Jeholopterus had a short tail, a feature seen in other anurognathids but unusual for "

rhamphorhynchoid" (i.e. basal) pterosaurs that typically have a long tail. Wang et al. cited the presence of a fringe of pycnofibres in the region of the tail to infer the presence of a short tail. However, a subsequent study by Dalla Vecchia argued that gleaning any information about the tail is impossible, given that the tail is "totally absent" in the fossil.[5]

Metatarsals of Vesperopterylus
(A and B) and Jeholopterus (C and D)

The wing bones are robust. The

propatagium
, is pointing towards the body. The hand claws are long and curved. The wings of Jeholopterus show evidence that they attached to the ankle, according to Wang et al.. They are relatively elongated with a wingspan of ninety centimetres.

The legs are short but robust. The toes bear well-developed curved claws, but these are not as long as the hand claws. The fifth toe is elongated, according to the authors supporting a membrane between the legs, the

uropatagium
.

Another articulated specimen was discovered no later than 2009 in the Early Cretaceous Sinuiju Formation of North Korea and it represents the first Cretaceous record of Jeholopterus;[6] the specimen was assigned to Jeholopterus cf. ningchengensis by So et al. (2024).[3]

Phylogeny

Jeholopterus was by the authors assigned to the

Anurognathinae, which is unlike the former study by Kellner and colleagues where it was recovered as closely related to Batrachognathus. Jeholopterus was found to have been the sister taxon to an unnamed clade formed by both Anurognathus and Vesperopterylus in Wei and colleagues' study.[7]
Below is a cladogram representing their phylogenetic analysis:

Anurognathidae

"Dimorphodon" weintraubi

Batrachognathinae

Sinomacrops bondei

Batrachognathus volans

Anurognathinae

Dendrorhynchoides curvidentatus

Luopterus mutoudengensis

Jeholopterus ningchengensis

Anurognathus ammoni

Vesperopterylus lamadongensis

Lifestyle

Anurognathids are normally considered insectivores. Wang et al hypothesized that Jeholopterus, being the largest species known of the group, might also have been a piscivore, a fish-eater.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 22411790
    .
  2. ^ a b c Wang, X., Zhou, Z., Zhang, F., and Xu, X. (2002). "A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and 'hairs' from Inner Mongolia, northeast China." Chinese Science Bulletin 47(3), 226 – 232.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1134/S003103012360018X
    .
  4. ^
    doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0846
  5. ^ Dalla Vecchia, F.M. (2002). "Observations on the non-pterodactyloid pterosaur Jeholopterus ningchengensis from the Early Cretaceous of Northeastern China." Natura Nascosta, 24: 8 - 27.
  6. ISSN 1225-0929
    .
  7. PMID 33850665
    .
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