Zhejiangopterus

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Zhejiangopterus
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis
Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Family: Azhdarchidae
Genus: Zhejiangopterus
Cai & Feng, 1994
Species

Z. linhaiensis Cai & Feng, 1994 (type)

Zhejiangopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, known from one species (Z. linhaiensis), which lived in China during the late Cretaceous Period.

Reconstructed skeleton of Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis. Scale bar represents 500 mm.
Reconstructed skeleton of Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis. Scale bar represents 500 mm.

Zhejiangopterus was a large azdharchid with a wingspan exceeding 5 metres (16.4 feet). Its skull was long, low, perfectly arched, and lacked a "keel" or any other crests sometimes seen in related species. The nasal opening and the large opening typically present between the nose and eye of archosaurs (the "antorbital fenestra") had joined together in species such as this to create a single oval opening that occupied nearly one half the length of the skull. The beak was long, thin, sharply pointed, and lacked teeth. Its upper leg bone was half the size of its upper arm bone, and strong and thin.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cai, Z., and Wei, F. (1994). "On a new pterosaur (Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis gen. et sp. nov.) from Upper Cretaceous in Linhai, Zhejiang, China." Vertebrata Palasiatica, 32: 181-194.

[edit] External links

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