Pterofiltrus
Pterofiltrus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Pterosauria |
Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
Family: | †Ctenochasmatidae |
Genus: | †Pterofiltrus Jiang & Wang, 2011 |
Species: | †P. qiui
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Binomial name | |
†Pterofiltrus qiui Jiang & Wang, 2011
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Pterofiltrus is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China.
Discovery and naming
Pterofiltrus was named by Jiang Shunxing and Wang Xiaolin in 2011. The type species is Pterofiltrus qiui. The generic name is derived from Greek πτερόν, pteron, "wing", and a Mediaeval Latin filtrum, "felt" or "filter", in reference to the dentition. The specific name honours Professor Qiu Zhanxiang.[1]
The
Description
The skull of Pterofiltrus is very elongated, with an estimated length of 208 millimetres. It has a smooth, slightly concave, upper profile lacking any bony crests. The lower jaws too are long, and without a keel.[1]
The describers established the presence of five diagnostic traits. The total number of teeth in the head is about 112. The teeth cover more than half of the skull length, at 55.8%. The front teeth differ in length. The symphysis of the lower jaws represent more than half of the
The dentition consists of very elongated pointed teeth, directed partly sideways. These on average strongly increase in length to the front meanwhile becoming more anteriorly directed. Closing the beak the teeth would have meshed together, with the front teeth sticking out beyond the upper and lower margins of the head. The teeth are evenly spaced. There are twenty-nine teeth in the upper jaw with the second and fifth tooth being the longest. The 174 millimetres long lower jaw contains about twenty-seven teeth.[1]
Phylogeny
The describers assigned Pterofiltrus to the family
See also
References
- ^ PMID 22146956.