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Cathayopterus

Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Summary

Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Cathayopterus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous-age Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. The name means "China wing", using the word "Cathay" as an old alternative name for China. The type species is C. grabaui, described in 2006 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonghe. It is a member of the Ctenochasmatidae, a clade of mostly filter feeding pterosaurs from the Jurassic and early Cretaceous.

Description

Cathayopterus is only known from a skull preserved in dorsal view, which shows teeth splaying outwards at the tip of the rostrum, similar to Ctenochasma. The skull is incomplete, with the left side being damaged.

Classification

The cladogram below follows a phylogenetic analysis upheld by Lü and colleagues in 2016. They recovered Cathayopterus as a basal member of the family Ctenochasmatidae.

Paleobiology

Cathayopterus was likely a filter feeder, just like other ctenochasmatid pterosaurs. It likely roamed around waterways to feed.

References

References

  1. (2006). "Pterosaur assemblages of the Jehol Biota and their implication for the Early Cretaceous pterosaur radiation". Geological Journal.
  2. (2006). "Originations, Radiations and Biodiversity Changes—Evidences from the Chinese Fossil Record". Science Press.
  3. Lü J., Kundrát M., Shen C., 2016, "New Material of the Pterosaur ''Gladocephaloideus'' Lü et al., 2012 from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China, with Comments on Its Systematic Position", ''PLoS ONE'' '''11'''(6): e0154888. {{doi. 10.1371/journal.pone.0154888
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

early-cretaceous-pterosaurs-of-asia ctenochasmatoids yixian-fauna taxa-named-by-zhou-zhonghe fossil-taxa-described-in-2006 pterosaur-genera
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