Huaxiapterus

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Huaxiapterus
Fossil range: Early Cretaceous

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Pterosauria
Suborder:	Pterodactyloidea
Family:	Tapejaridae
Genus:	Huaxiapterus Lü & Yuan, 2005

Species

H. jii (type)
H. corollatus Lü et al., 2006
H. benxiensis Lü et al., 2007

Huaxiapterus (meaning "Hua Xia [China] wing") was a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the second genus of tapejarid from this formation, after Sinopterus, and may be more derived. Three species are known.

The type species, H. jii, is based on GMN-03-11-001, a nearly complete skeleton and skull. It was somewhat smaller than Sinopterus, with a wingspan of ~0.94 m (3.08 ft). Its crest is between that of Sinopterus and Tapejara in development.^[1] The second species, H. corollatus, is based on ZMNH M8131, another nearly complete skeleton from the same formation.^[2] Third species H. benxiensis also comes from Liaoning.^[3]

[edit] References

^ Lü, J., and Yuan, C. (2005). "New tapejarid pterosaur from Western Liaoning, China." Acta Geologica Sinica 79(4):453-458.
^ Lü, J., Jin, X., Unwin, D.M., Zhao, L., Azuma, Y., and Ji, Q. (2006). "A new species of Huaxiapterus (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China with comments on the systematics of tapejarid pterosaurs." Acta Geologica Sinica 80(3):315-326.
^ Lü Junchang, Gao Yubo, Xing Lida, Li Zhixin, and Sun Zhenyuan. (2007). New species of Huaxiapterus from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning." Acta Geologica Sinica (English edition) 81(5):683–687.