Lonchognathosaurus

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Lonchognathosaurus
Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Superfamily: Dsungaripteroidea
Family: Dsungaripteridae
Genus: Lonchognathosaurus
Maisch, Matzke, and Sun, 2004
Binomial name
Lonchognathosaurus acutirostris
Maisch et al., 2004

Lonchognathosaurus (meaning "lance jaw lizard") was a genus of dsungaripterid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Lianmuxin Formation of Xinjiang, China. It is based on SGP 2001/19, the front portion of a skull and lower jaws that came from a large dsungaripterid (estimated length of complete skull ~400 mm (15.75 in)). The very tip of the upper jaw, composed of the premaxilla bones, was slender and had a needle-like tip. The teeth of the upper jaw appeared far back of the tip, and were well-spaced. Each maxilla only had eight teeth, and the bottom margin of the upper jaw was straight (unlike in other pterosaurs where it is strongly curved). A sagittal crest was present, with grooves and a concave leading margin. The genus was classified as the sister taxon to Dsungaripterus.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Maisch, M.W., Matzke, A.T., and Ge Sun. (2004). A new dsungaripteroid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the southern Junggar Basin, north-west China. Cretaceous Research 25:625-634.

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