Short note on a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from Upper Jurassic deposits of Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

Daohugou is an important locality of the Jurassic Yanliao Biota, where only two pterosaurs have been described so far (Jeholopterus and Pterorhynchus). Here we report a new genus and species, Daohugoupterus delicatusgen. et sp. nov. (IVPP V12537), from this region, consisting of a partial skeleton with soft tissue. The skull is laterally compressed, differing from Jeholopterus. The antorbital fenestra is larger than in Pterorhynchus. The upper temporal fenestra is unusually small. The short cervical vertebrae bearing cervical ribs indicate that it is a non-pterodactyloid flying reptile. The sternal plate is triangular, being much wider than long. The deltopectoral crest of humerus is positioned proximally and does not extend further down the shaft, a typical feature of basal pterosaurs. Daohugoupterus also differs from the wukongopterids and scaphognathids from the Tiaojishan Formation at Linglongta, regarded to be about the same age as the Daohugou Bed. The new specimen increases the Jurassic non-pterodactyloid pterosaur diversity of the Yanliao Biota and is the smallest pterosaur from Daohugou area so far.

Keywords::

• Pterosauria
• non-pterodactyloid pterosaur
• Daohugoupterus
• Late Jurassic
• China

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Zhonghe Zhou and Yan Li for the field work, Yutong Li for the preparation of the specimen and Jie Zhang for the photographs.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars [grant number 40825005], the National Key Basic Research Program of China [grant number 2012CB821900] and the Hundred Talents Project of CAS. Funding has also been received from the Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro [grant number FAPERJ # E-26/102.737/2012] and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant number CNPq # 304780/2013-8].