Nemicolopterus

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Nemicolopterus Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Order: Pterosauria Suborder: Pterodactyloidea (unranked) Dsungaripteroidea Genus: Nemicolopterus Wang et al., 2008
Species
N. crypticus Wang et al., 2008 (type)

Nemicolopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, described in 2008. The type and only known species is N. crypticus. It lived in the Jehol Biota 120 million years ago, and was found in the Jiufotang Formation in what is now the western part of China's Liaoning Province in northeastern China. Its wingspan of slightly under 25 centimeters (10 in) makes it smaller than any but a few specimens of hatchling pterosaurs.^[1] The specimen is not yet fully grown, but Wang et al. (2008) cite the amount of bone fusion and the ossification of the toes, gastralia and sternum to indicate that it was a sub-adult rather than a hatchling. Adult Nemicolopterus were therefore probably the smallest known adult pterosaurs.

Nemicolopterus is a toothless pterosaur. Wang et al. (2008) concluded that it is a primitive intermediate between the toothed pterosaurs of the Ornithocheiroidea and the often toothless pterosaurs of the Dsungaripteroidea. Though Nemicolopterus is tiny, some of the members of these groups eventually evolved into the largest flying animals that ever lived, like Quetzalcoatlus.

Nemicolopterus also demonstrates clear adaptations of the toes and claws for grasping tree branches. Most pterosaurs are known from marine sediments, meaning that they probably caught fish in the ocean and landed on the adjacent beaches or cliffs. Nemicolopterus, on the other hand, is one of just a few pterosaurs that lived in the continental interior, and probably hunted insects and roosted in the forest canopy.[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Preliminary skeletal restoration by paleoartist John Conway