Boreopterus

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Boreopterus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 124.6 Ma
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Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Suborder: †Pterodactyloidea
Family: †Boreopteridae
Subfamily: †Boreopterinae
Genus: †Boreopterus
Lü & Ji, 2005
Type species
†Boreopterus cuiae
Lü & Ji, 2005
Other species
  • †B. giganticus
    Jiang et al., 2014[1]
Synonyms

Boreopterus is a genus of boreopterid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Dalian, Liaoning, China.

Etymology[]

Boreopterus was named in 2005 by Lü Junchang and . The type species is Boreopterus cuiae. The genus name is derived from Greek boreios, "northern" and pteron, "wing". The specific epithet honors .

Description[]

Boreopterus is based on holotype JZMP-04-07-3, a nearly complete but crushed skeleton and skull. The skull is 235 millimeters long (9.25 inches), low and elongated with a rounded tip. Its wingspan is estimated to have been around 1.45 meters (4.76 feet). Its teeth, especially the anterior nine pairs, are quite large, forming a mesh of sharp teeth at the front of the mouth; the third and fourth teeth from the front are the largest. There are at least 27 teeth in each side of both the upper and lower jaws, which is a large amount.[3]

Classification[]

Lü and Ji initially placed Boreopterus in the family Ornithocheiridae when they described it in 2006, a classification which was supported later that year by .[4] However, Lü in 2006 published a cladistic analysis showing Boreopterus to be the sister taxon of Feilongus (together forming the new family Boreopteridae[5]) in a more basal position than Haopterus.[6]

In 2013, a more comprehensive study of pterosaur relationships supported the close relationship of Boreopterus and Feilongus, as well as their relatively basal status among pterodactyloids. Later that year, Andres & Myers found the boreopterids as the sister group of Cycnorhamphus within the archaeopterodactyloid group Gallodactylidae.[7] However, subsequent analysis have found boreopterids to be indeed members of the Ornithocheiroidea, composed of Boreopterus, Zhenyuanopterus and Guidraco, while Feilongus is a relative of Gnathosaurus.[8] In 2018, Nicholas Longrich and colleagues found the family Boreopteridae to only contain Boreopterus and Zhenyuanopterus, while Guidraco was placed in a more derived position within the clade Anhangueria. They also found the family Lonchodectidae as the sister taxon of Boreopteridae.[9]

Paleobiology[]

Pterosaurs like Boreopterus are interpreted by Unwin as soaring animals, like today's albatrosses and frigatebirds.[10] However, it has also been suggested that boreopterids foraged while swimming, trapping small prey with their needle-like teeth,[11] a method similar to that of modern Platanista dolphins.

It has been suggested that the closely related Zhenyuanopterus was merely the adult form of this animal.[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Shun-Xing Jiang; Xiao-Lin Wang; Xi Meng; Xin Cheng (2014). "A new boreopterid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China, with a reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships of the Boreopteridae". Journal of Paleontology. 88 (4): 823–828. doi:10.1666/13-068.
  2. ^ Witton, Mark P. (2013). "Boreopteridae". Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 164–169. ISBN 978-0691150611.
  3. ^ Junchang Lü; and Qiang Ji (2005). "A new ornithocheirid from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China". Acta Geologica Sinica. 79 (2): 157–163. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2005.tb00877.x.
  4. ^ (2006). The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. New York: Pi Press. p. 272. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
  5. ^ Junchang, Lü; Ji, S.; Yuan, C.; Ji, Q. (2006). Pterosaurs from China (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. p. 147 p.
  6. ^ Lü, Junchang; Qiang Ji (2006). "Preliminary results of a phylogenetic analysis of the pterosaurs from western Liaoning and surrounding area" (PDF). Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea. 22 (1): 239–261. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  7. ^ Andres, B.; Myers, T. S. (2013). "Lone Star Pterosaurs". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 103: 1. doi:10.1017/S1755691013000303.
  8. ^ a b Andres, B.; Clark, J.; Xu, X. (2014). "The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group". Current Biology. 24: 1011–6. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.030. PMID 24768054.
  9. ^ a b Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018). "Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary." PLoS Biology, 16(3): e2001663. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663
  10. ^ (2006). "A tree for pterosaurs". The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time. New York: Pi Press. pp. 79–82. ISBN 0-13-146308-X.
  11. ^ a b Mark Witton, 2011

External links[]

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