A new tapejarid pterosaur Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. The skull morphology of Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. appears transitional between the skull...A new tapejarid pterosaur Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. The skull morphology of Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. appears transitional between the skulls of Sinopterus and Tapejara. The skull morphology (low crest) of Huaxiapterusjii indicates that Huaxiapterus is more closely related to Sinopterus than to Tapejara, which has a high crest. The relatively long and shallow skull of Sinopterus indicates that it is a primitive form. Huaxiapterus is more derived than Sinopterus but more primitive than Tapejara.展开更多
A new boreopterid pterosaur: Zhenyuanopterus longirostris gen. et sp. nov. from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning is erected, based on the complete skeleton with a skull and lower jaws preserved. It is charact...A new boreopterid pterosaur: Zhenyuanopterus longirostris gen. et sp. nov. from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning is erected, based on the complete skeleton with a skull and lower jaws preserved. It is characterized by: a large boreopterid pterosaur with a high number of teeth, where the anterior teeth are much larger than posterior ones; the length of the dorsal + sacral vertebrae is nearly half the length of the skull; ratio of the length of the humerus to metacarpal IV is approximately 91% and the, humerus, femur and third wing phalanx are all equal in length and the feet are specially small. It represents the largest boroepterid pterosaur discovered from western Liaoning and its surrounding areas so far展开更多
A new oviraptorid dinosaur Jiangxisaurus ganzhouensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. The new taxon differs from...A new oviraptorid dinosaur Jiangxisaurus ganzhouensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. The new taxon differs from other oviraptorids in the weakly downturned rostrum of the lower jaw, much-elongated mandible with a height-to-length ratio being about 20% and the length ratio of radius to humerus of about 0.70. This species not only adds a new member to oviraptorid dinosaurs, but also provides more information about oviraptorid paleogeographical distribution in southern China.展开更多
A new somphospondylan sauropod (Dinosauria, Titanosauriformes): Gannansaurus sinensis gen. et sp. nov. from the Late Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou Basin, Jiangxi Province of southern China is erected bas...A new somphospondylan sauropod (Dinosauria, Titanosauriformes): Gannansaurus sinensis gen. et sp. nov. from the Late Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou Basin, Jiangxi Province of southern China is erected based on one nearly complete dorsal vertebra and a mid-caudal vertebra. It is characterized by two centroprezygapophyseal lamina fossae; large, square-shaped concavity formed by centroprezygapophyseal lamina and dorsal margin of the centrum; large infraparapophyseal fossa; three openings present within the large lateral concavity, which occupy 65% length of the centrum; the posterior centroparapophyseal lamina (PCPL) and the anterior centroparapophyseal lamina (ACPL) weakly developed; the posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina (PCDL) separated by an infradiapophyseal fossa into two branches dorsally; parapophyseal and diapophyseal laminae cross to form "K" configuration. It shares some characters with the Early Cretaceous form-Euhelopus, indicating that it is more closely related to Euhelopus rather than to other titanosauriform sauropods. This means Gannansaurus may have a close phylogenetic relationship with Euhelopus.展开更多
A new species of tapejarid pterosaur, Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is erected on the basis of a nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, Chi...A new species of tapejarid pterosaur, Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is erected on the basis of a nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is characterized by a hatchet-shaped rectangular process on the premaxilla, whose short axis is perpendicular to the anterior margin of the premaxillae. Except for this process, other characters of the skull such as the breadth of the snout between the anterior margin of the nasoantorbital fenestra and the anterior margin of the premaxilla are similar to that of Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus and a second Chinese tapejarid, Sinopterus, share several unique cranial characters in common with Tapejara and these three genera appear to be more closely related to each other than to other azhdarchoids. The Chinese tapejarids (Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus) have relatively elongate skulls and weakly developed cranial crests and seem to be less derived than Tapejara, with its shorter, deeper skull and large cranial crest. Tupuxuarids (Tupuxuara and Thalassodromeus) have often been associated with tapejarids in the family Tapejaridae, but this relationship is controversial because some phylogenetic analyses have supported the pairing of tupuxuarids with Azhdarchidae. We propose that Tapejaridae be restricted to Tapejara, Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus.展开更多
A new baby pterodactyloid pterosaur with soft tissue preserved, Ningchengopterus liuae gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. It was characterized by the skull, slightly longer ...A new baby pterodactyloid pterosaur with soft tissue preserved, Ningchengopterus liuae gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. It was characterized by the skull, slightly longer than the combined length of the dorsal and sacral vertebrae; 50 teeth (including upper and lower jaws); short mid-cervical vertebrae; the humerus and the scapula, equal to that of the wing metacarpal in length; the ulna and the femur, equal to that of the first and third wing phalanx in length, respectively. The similar ratio of the wing phalanx 2 to wing phalanx 1 of Ningchengopterus and Eosipterus implies that Ningchengopterus may be close to the ctenochasmatid pterosaur. However, it may also imply that the isometrically growing of the first two wing phalanges exists among some pterosaurs.展开更多
Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second represe...Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second representative of lizards known from Luanchuan and adds a new member to the Luanchuan Fauna. F. luanchuanensis is a small-sized lizard and systematically assigned to the Polyglyphanodontidae of the Teiioidea because of the presence of a caniniform tooth and an elongate posterior process of the postorbital. It is distinctive in that the heterodont dentition bears 19 teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, the 3^rd maxillary tooth is large and caniniform, the post-caniniform teeth in maxilla and those posterior to the 3^rd dentary tooth are chisel-like in lateral view, the prefrontal possesses a fossa on its lateral surface, the postorbital with an extremely elongate posterior process and the well-developed retroarticular process has a deep fossa on its dorsal surface. In phylogeny, our analysis suggests a close relationship of Funiusaurus to the large-sized Tianyusaurus from the same basin within the Tuberocephalosaurinae. The discovery of Funiusaurus is significant in confirming the status of the Tuberocephalosaurinae, which includes a group of the Asian members of the Polyglyphanodontidae only.展开更多
The Nyctosaurus specimen K J1 was reconstructed under the hypothesis that there is a membrane attached to the crest; the so-called headsail crest. The aerodynamic forces and moment acting on the headsail crest were an...The Nyctosaurus specimen K J1 was reconstructed under the hypothesis that there is a membrane attached to the crest; the so-called headsail crest. The aerodynamic forces and moment acting on the headsail crest were analyzed. It was shown that K J1 might adjust the angle of the headsail crest relative to the air current as one way to generate thrust (one of the aerodynamic forces, used to overcome body drag in forward flight) and that the magnitude of the thrust and moment could vary with the gesture angle and the relative location between the aerodynamic center of the headsail crest and body's center of gravity. Three scenarios were tested for comparison: the crest with membrane attachment, the crest without membrane attachment and the absence of a cranial crest. It was shown that the aerodynamic characteristics (increasing, maintaining and decreasing thrusts and moment) would have almost disappear in flight for the crest without membrane attachment and was non-existent without the cranial crest. It is suggested from aerodynamics evidence alone that Nyctosaurus specimen KJ1 had a membrane attached to the crest and used this reconstructed form for auxiliary flight control.展开更多
Based on a new nearly complete postcranial skeleton of an adult specimen of Sinopterus from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China, the diagnosis of Sinopterus is amended. The revised diag...Based on a new nearly complete postcranial skeleton of an adult specimen of Sinopterus from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China, the diagnosis of Sinopterus is amended. The revised diagnosis of Sinopterus includes skull relatively elongate with weakly developed cranial crest; ratio of the length of Ph2d4 to that of Ph1d4 is approximately 0.73; ratio of the length of wing metacarpal to that of metatarsal 3 is 4.5; ratio of the length of mt3 to that of tibia is approximately 0.21, and wing phalanges 1 and 2 are straight. Comparison between the ratios of the limb bones between non-adult and adult individuals of Sinopterus indicates that during the ontogenetic process, some ratios between bones are constant, such as the first wing phalanx to the second wing phalanx, the wing metacarpal to the metatarsal 3, metatarsal 3 to the tibia, but others are not, such as humerus to wing metacarpal and femur to tibia, in which the former grows faster than the latter.展开更多
Pterosaurs are amongst the most fascinating and enigmatic of all extinct creatures. They originated in the Late Triassic (about 220 million years ago) and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 milli...Pterosaurs are amongst the most fascinating and enigmatic of all extinct creatures. They originated in the Late Triassic (about 220 million years ago) and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago). They are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight.Thanks to some spectacular fossil finds in recent years, our understanding of the paleobiology and evolutionary history of these 'flying reptiles' has seen several dramatic advances. Some of the most important discoveries, including the first eggs with embryos and the evolutionarily transitional form Darwinopterus, have been made in China, where the Middle and Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rocks are currently producing new species of pterosaurs at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. In recognition of this, the Third International Symposium on Pterosaurs Flugsaurier 2010 was held in China in August 2010 following earlier symposia held in France in 2001 and Germany in 2007. As in previous symposia, this meeting covered all aspects of pterosaur paleobiology and the world in which they lived, including the origin and evolution of pterosaurs, their taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny and paleobiology including anatomy, functional morphology and ontogeny. Sessions also covered more geological aspects such as taphonomy, sedimentology and preservational environments and related subjects including ecosystems and contemporaneous fauna and flora.展开更多
文摘A new tapejarid pterosaur Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. The skull morphology of Huaxiapterus jii gen. et sp. nov. appears transitional between the skulls of Sinopterus and Tapejara. The skull morphology (low crest) of Huaxiapterusjii indicates that Huaxiapterus is more closely related to Sinopterus than to Tapejara, which has a high crest. The relatively long and shallow skull of Sinopterus indicates that it is a primitive form. Huaxiapterus is more derived than Sinopterus but more primitive than Tapejara.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China(90914003)the Basic Outlay of Scientific Research Work from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China(J0703)the National Basic Research Program of China(2006CB70145)
文摘A new boreopterid pterosaur: Zhenyuanopterus longirostris gen. et sp. nov. from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning is erected, based on the complete skeleton with a skull and lower jaws preserved. It is characterized by: a large boreopterid pterosaur with a high number of teeth, where the anterior teeth are much larger than posterior ones; the length of the dorsal + sacral vertebrae is nearly half the length of the skull; ratio of the length of the humerus to metacarpal IV is approximately 91% and the, humerus, femur and third wing phalanx are all equal in length and the feet are specially small. It represents the largest boroepterid pterosaur discovered from western Liaoning and its surrounding areas so far
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China grants(4127202240872017)
文摘A new oviraptorid dinosaur Jiangxisaurus ganzhouensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. The new taxon differs from other oviraptorids in the weakly downturned rostrum of the lower jaw, much-elongated mandible with a height-to-length ratio being about 20% and the length ratio of radius to humerus of about 0.70. This species not only adds a new member to oviraptorid dinosaurs, but also provides more information about oviraptorid paleogeographical distribution in southern China.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (41272022, 90914003)
文摘A new somphospondylan sauropod (Dinosauria, Titanosauriformes): Gannansaurus sinensis gen. et sp. nov. from the Late Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou Basin, Jiangxi Province of southern China is erected based on one nearly complete dorsal vertebra and a mid-caudal vertebra. It is characterized by two centroprezygapophyseal lamina fossae; large, square-shaped concavity formed by centroprezygapophyseal lamina and dorsal margin of the centrum; large infraparapophyseal fossa; three openings present within the large lateral concavity, which occupy 65% length of the centrum; the posterior centroparapophyseal lamina (PCPL) and the anterior centroparapophyseal lamina (ACPL) weakly developed; the posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina (PCDL) separated by an infradiapophyseal fossa into two branches dorsally; parapophyseal and diapophyseal laminae cross to form "K" configuration. It shares some characters with the Early Cretaceous form-Euhelopus, indicating that it is more closely related to Euhelopus rather than to other titanosauriform sauropods. This means Gannansaurus may have a close phylogenetic relationship with Euhelopus.
文摘A new species of tapejarid pterosaur, Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is erected on the basis of a nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is characterized by a hatchet-shaped rectangular process on the premaxilla, whose short axis is perpendicular to the anterior margin of the premaxillae. Except for this process, other characters of the skull such as the breadth of the snout between the anterior margin of the nasoantorbital fenestra and the anterior margin of the premaxilla are similar to that of Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus and a second Chinese tapejarid, Sinopterus, share several unique cranial characters in common with Tapejara and these three genera appear to be more closely related to each other than to other azhdarchoids. The Chinese tapejarids (Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus) have relatively elongate skulls and weakly developed cranial crests and seem to be less derived than Tapejara, with its shorter, deeper skull and large cranial crest. Tupuxuarids (Tupuxuara and Thalassodromeus) have often been associated with tapejarids in the family Tapejaridae, but this relationship is controversial because some phylogenetic analyses have supported the pairing of tupuxuarids with Azhdarchidae. We propose that Tapejaridae be restricted to Tapejara, Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus.
文摘A new baby pterodactyloid pterosaur with soft tissue preserved, Ningchengopterus liuae gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull. It was characterized by the skull, slightly longer than the combined length of the dorsal and sacral vertebrae; 50 teeth (including upper and lower jaws); short mid-cervical vertebrae; the humerus and the scapula, equal to that of the wing metacarpal in length; the ulna and the femur, equal to that of the first and third wing phalanx in length, respectively. The similar ratio of the wing phalanx 2 to wing phalanx 1 of Ningchengopterus and Eosipterus implies that Ningchengopterus may be close to the ctenochasmatid pterosaur. However, it may also imply that the isometrically growing of the first two wing phalanges exists among some pterosaurs.
基金supported by research grants from"the Liang-Quan-Jia-Kuan"Projects of the Geological Science and Technology of Henan(Yuzhao:2011-622-2)the National Science Foundation of China(No.41272022,No.41172027)+1 种基金the project from China Geological Survey(No.12120114026801)the Canadian Museum of Nature(RCP09)
文摘Funiusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanehuan County, Henan Province. It is the second representative of lizards known from Luanchuan and adds a new member to the Luanchuan Fauna. F. luanchuanensis is a small-sized lizard and systematically assigned to the Polyglyphanodontidae of the Teiioidea because of the presence of a caniniform tooth and an elongate posterior process of the postorbital. It is distinctive in that the heterodont dentition bears 19 teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, the 3^rd maxillary tooth is large and caniniform, the post-caniniform teeth in maxilla and those posterior to the 3^rd dentary tooth are chisel-like in lateral view, the prefrontal possesses a fossa on its lateral surface, the postorbital with an extremely elongate posterior process and the well-developed retroarticular process has a deep fossa on its dorsal surface. In phylogeny, our analysis suggests a close relationship of Funiusaurus to the large-sized Tianyusaurus from the same basin within the Tuberocephalosaurinae. The discovery of Funiusaurus is significant in confirming the status of the Tuberocephalosaurinae, which includes a group of the Asian members of the Polyglyphanodontidae only.
基金supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (973 Project,2006CB701405)China Geological Survey,National Geographic (China Edition)and China Aviation Media Group.
文摘The Nyctosaurus specimen K J1 was reconstructed under the hypothesis that there is a membrane attached to the crest; the so-called headsail crest. The aerodynamic forces and moment acting on the headsail crest were analyzed. It was shown that K J1 might adjust the angle of the headsail crest relative to the air current as one way to generate thrust (one of the aerodynamic forces, used to overcome body drag in forward flight) and that the magnitude of the thrust and moment could vary with the gesture angle and the relative location between the aerodynamic center of the headsail crest and body's center of gravity. Three scenarios were tested for comparison: the crest with membrane attachment, the crest without membrane attachment and the absence of a cranial crest. It was shown that the aerodynamic characteristics (increasing, maintaining and decreasing thrusts and moment) would have almost disappear in flight for the crest without membrane attachment and was non-existent without the cranial crest. It is suggested from aerodynamics evidence alone that Nyctosaurus specimen KJ1 had a membrane attached to the crest and used this reconstructed form for auxiliary flight control.
文摘Based on a new nearly complete postcranial skeleton of an adult specimen of Sinopterus from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, China, the diagnosis of Sinopterus is amended. The revised diagnosis of Sinopterus includes skull relatively elongate with weakly developed cranial crest; ratio of the length of Ph2d4 to that of Ph1d4 is approximately 0.73; ratio of the length of wing metacarpal to that of metatarsal 3 is 4.5; ratio of the length of mt3 to that of tibia is approximately 0.21, and wing phalanges 1 and 2 are straight. Comparison between the ratios of the limb bones between non-adult and adult individuals of Sinopterus indicates that during the ontogenetic process, some ratios between bones are constant, such as the first wing phalanx to the second wing phalanx, the wing metacarpal to the metatarsal 3, metatarsal 3 to the tibia, but others are not, such as humerus to wing metacarpal and femur to tibia, in which the former grows faster than the latter.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41010304027)
文摘Pterosaurs are amongst the most fascinating and enigmatic of all extinct creatures. They originated in the Late Triassic (about 220 million years ago) and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago). They are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight.Thanks to some spectacular fossil finds in recent years, our understanding of the paleobiology and evolutionary history of these 'flying reptiles' has seen several dramatic advances. Some of the most important discoveries, including the first eggs with embryos and the evolutionarily transitional form Darwinopterus, have been made in China, where the Middle and Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rocks are currently producing new species of pterosaurs at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. In recognition of this, the Third International Symposium on Pterosaurs Flugsaurier 2010 was held in China in August 2010 following earlier symposia held in France in 2001 and Germany in 2007. As in previous symposia, this meeting covered all aspects of pterosaur paleobiology and the world in which they lived, including the origin and evolution of pterosaurs, their taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny and paleobiology including anatomy, functional morphology and ontogeny. Sessions also covered more geological aspects such as taphonomy, sedimentology and preservational environments and related subjects including ecosystems and contemporaneous fauna and flora.