Jidapterus

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Jidapterus
Fossil range: Early Cretaceous

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Pterosauria
Suborder:	Pterodactyloidea
Superfamily:	Azhdarchoidea
Family:	uncertain
Genus:	Jidapterus Dong, Sun, and Wu, 2003

Binomial name

Jidapterus edentus
Dong, Sun, and Wu, 2003

Jidapterus (meaning "Jilin University wing") was a genus of azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is based on CAD-01, a nearly complete skeleton with partial skull. The skull is toothless and relatively long, with a straight beak, and a large hole where the antorbital fenestra is joined with the nostrils. The eye sockets are small, and there is no crest along the lower jaw as seen in ornithocheiroids, although a short projection was present at the back of the skull. The wingspan of this individual was estimated to be 1.7 m (5.58 ft).^[1] Its classification has been unstable; the original authors did not assign it to a group. David Unwin assigned it to Tapejaridae without comment in The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time,^[2] but other authors have not found this;^[3] one group suggests it was a more basal azhdarchoid,^[4] whereas another group suggests it was closer to Pteranodon and possibly the same genus as Chaoyangopterus^[5]

[edit] References

^ Dong Z., Sun Y., and Wu S. (2003). On a new pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Chaoyang Basin, Western Liaoning, China. Global Geology 22(1):1-7.
^ Unwin, D.M. (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. Pi Press:New York, p. 273. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
^ Li, J., Lü, J., and Zhang, B. (2003). A new Lower Cretaceous sinopterid pterosaur from the Western Liaoning, China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 42(3):442-447.
^ J. Lü, and Q. Ji. (2006). Preliminary results of a phylogenetic analysis of the pterosaurs from western Liaoning and surrounding area. Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea 22(1):239-261.
^ Xiaolin Wang, Kellner, A.W.K., Zhonghe Zhou, and de Almeida Campos, D. (2005). Pterosaur diversity and faunal turnover in Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems in China. Nature 437:875-879.