Jianchangnathus

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Not to be confused with Jianchangopterus.

Jianchangnathus
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, 160 Ma
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Jianchangnathus-Paleozoological Museum of China.jpg
Holotype, Paleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Pterosauria
Family: †Rhamphorhynchidae
Subfamily: †Scaphognathinae
Genus: †Jianchangnathus
et al., 2012
Species:
†J. robustus
Binomial name
†Jianchangnathus robustus
Cheng et al, 2012

Jianchangnathus is an extinct genus of basal pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of northeastern China.[1]

Naming[]

Jianchangnathus was first described and named by Cheng Xin, , and Alexander W.A. Kellner in 2012 and the type species is Jianchangnathus robustus. The generic name combines a reference to Jianchang County with a Greek γνάθος, gnathos, "jaw". The specific name means "robust" in Latin.[1]

Jianchangnathus is known from a single fossil skeleton, holotype IVPP V16866, recovered near , in Jianchang County.

Description[]

Autapomorphies of Jiangchangnathus include: a convex top margin of the lower jaw; a large front branch of the jugal; and the first three pairs of teeth of the lower jaws pointing strongly forwards. Its describers found it to share several features with Scaphognathus, including a high front end of the lower jaws, a pear-shaped lower temporal fenestra with the broad end below and teeth in the maxilla of the upper jaw that have a space equal to that of three toothsockets between them.[1] Additionally, undescribed fossils of a pterosaur referred to Jianchangnathus suggest that the color of its pycnofibers was brown.[2]

Phylogeny[]

Jianchangnathus was assigned by the describers to the Scaphognathidae.[1]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Xin Cheng; Xiaolin Wang; Shunxing Jiang; Alexander W.A. Kellner (2012). "A new scaphognathid pterosaur from western Liaoning, China". Historical Biology. 24: 101–111. doi:10.1080/08912963.2011.635423. S2CID 128539358.
  2. ^ Li, Q., J.A. Clarke, K.-Q. Gao, C.-F. Zhou, Q. Meng, D. Li, L. D'Alba, and M.D. Shawkey. 2014. Melanosome evolution indicates a key physiological shift within feathered dinosaurs. Nature 507: 350-353.
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