Original paper
New material of the non-pterodactyloid pterosaur Changchengopterus pani Lü, 2009 from the Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning
Zhou, Chang-Fu; Schoch, Rainer R.
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 260 Heft 3 (2011), p. 265 - 275
published: Jun 1, 2011
DOI: 10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0131
ArtNo. ESP155026003002, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Recent discoveries of non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs in the Late Jurassic lacustrine deposits of Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Liaoning, northeastern China, represent a new assemblage in the Jurassic terrestrial ecosystem. Here, a new pterosaur skeleton is described from the Late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Jianchang, western Liaoning, China, as Changchengopterus pani Lü, 2009 by the elongated cervical vertebrae, similar proportions of the wing fingers, metacarpals I-III disparate in length, and extremely-elongated zygapophyses. This discovery provides new information of the postcranial skeleton in the understanding of bony anatomy of Changchengopterus, and also further highlights its similarity with the recently-erected Darwinopterus and Wukongopterus. The three co-existing taxa are distinguished here by shape differences in the pedal digit V-2, but final confirmation requires discovery of more complete material. The new find expands the geographic range of Changchengopterus in neighbouring areas of Hebei and Liaoning.
Keywords
pterosauria • changchengopterus • darwinopterus • wukongopterus • late jurassic • tiaojishan formation • liaoning • similarity • biogeography