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Shenzhoupterus is a genus of chaoyangopterid azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. It is known from the articulated skull and skeleton of a single individual, with a wingspan of 1.4 meters (4.6 ft). Shenzhoupterus lacked teeth, and had a crest on its skull that arched over the eyes and terminated in a small point toward the back of the head. The nasoantorbital fenestra (an opening incorporating the holes for the nostrils and the antorbital fenestrae) was large and extended over the eyes and braincase. Lü and colleagues, who described and named Shenzhoupterus in 2008, performed a phylogenetic analysis and found that their new genus formed a distinct clade of azhdarchoids with Chaoyangopterus, Eoazhdarcho, Eopteranodon , and Jidapterus, which they named Chaoyangopteryidae. The type species is S. chaoyangensis.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Lü J.; D.M. Unwin, Xu L., and Zhang X. (2008). "A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China and its implications for pterosaur phylogeny and evolution". Naturwissenschaften: online (preprint). doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0397-5.
