Jianchangnathus
| Jianchangnathus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Holotype, Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Family: | †Rhamphorhynchidae |
| Subfamily: | † Scaphognathinae
|
| Genus: | †Jianchangnathus Cheng et al., 2012 |
| Species: | †J. robustus
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Jianchangnathus robustus Cheng et al, 2012
| |
Jianchangnathus is an
extinct genus of basal pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of northeastern China.[1]
Naming
Jianchangnathus was first described and named by
generic name combines a reference to Jianchang County with a Greek γνάθος, gnathos, "jaw". The specific name means "robust" in Latin.[1]
Jianchangnathus is known from a single fossil skeleton, holotype IVPP V16866, recovered near Linglongta, in Jianchang County.
Description
jugal; and the first three pairs of teeth of the lower jaws pointing strongly forwards. Its describers found it to share several features with Scaphognathus, including a high front end of the lower jaws, a pear-shaped lower temporal fenestra with the broad end below and teeth in the maxilla of the upper jaw that have a space equal to that of three toothsockets between them.[1] Additionally, undescribed fossils of a pterosaur referred to Jianchangnathus suggest that the color of its pycnofibers was brown.[2]
Phylogeny
Jianchangnathus was assigned by the describers to the
Scaphognathidae.[1]