Jidapterus Jaws
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''Jidapterus'' is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of chaoyangopterid
pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...
from the
Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...
-age
Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...
Jiufotang Formation The Jiufotang Formation () is an Early Cretaceous geological formation in Chaoyang, Liaoning which has yielded fossils of feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds, pterosaurs, and other organisms (see Jehol Biota). It is a member of the Jehol group. T ...
of Chaoyang,
Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The genus was in 2003 named by
Dong Zhiming Dong Zhiming (Chinese language, Chinese: 董枝明, Pinyin: ''Dǒng Zhimíng''; January 1937 – 20 October 2024) was a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist formerly employed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) ...
, Sun Yue-Wu and Wu Shao-Yuan. The
type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
is ''Jidapterus edentus''. The genus name is derived from ''Jílín Dàxué'' or "Jilin University" and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The
specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
means "toothless" in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
.


Description

''Jidapterus'' is based on
holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
CAD-01, a nearly complete skeleton with partial skull. The skull is toothless and relatively long, with a straight and very pointed beak, and a large hole where the
antorbital fenestra An antorbital fenestra (plural: fenestrae) is an opening in the skull that is in front of the eye sockets. This skull character is largely associated with Archosauriformes, archosauriforms, first appearing during the Triassic Period. Among Extant ...
is joined with the
nostril A nostril (or naris , : nares ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbinates ...
s. The
eye sockets In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket/hole of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is ...
are small, and there is no crest along the lower jaw as seen in
ornithocheiroids Pterodactyloidea ( ; derived from the Greek words ''πτερόν'' (''pterón'', for usual ''ptéryx'') "wing", and ''δάκτυλος'' (''dáktylos'') "finger") is one of the two traditional suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contai ...
, although a short projection was present at the back of the skull. The
wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
of this individual was estimated to be .


Classification

The classification of ''Jidapterus'' has been unstable; the original authors did not assign it to a group. Some of the original authors later suggested it was a more basal azhdarchoid, whereas another group suggested it was closer to ''
Pteranodon ''Pteranodon'' (; from and ) is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with ''P. longiceps'' having a wingspan of over . They lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America in presen ...
'' and possibly the same genus as '' Chaoyangopterus''. David Unwin assigned it to
Tapejaridae Tapejaridae (from a Tupi language, Tupi word meaning 'the lord of the ways') is a Family (biology), family of azhdarchoid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, ...
without comment in ''The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time'',Unwin, D.M. (2006). ''The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time''. Pi Press:New York, p. 273. . but later, in a collaboration with Lü, agreed that it belonged to another azhdarchoid group and was a close relative of ''Chaoyangopterus'', placing both in the new family
Chaoyangopteridae Chaoyangopteridae (or chaoyangopterids) is a family of pterosaurs within the larger group Azhdarchoidea. Chaoyangopterids lived mostly during the Early Cretaceous period, though possible members, ''Microtuban'', '' Xericeps'' and ''Argentinadraco' ...
.Lü, J., Unwin, D.M., Xu, L., and Zhang, X. (2008). "A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China and its implications for pterosaur phylogeny and evolution." ''Naturwissenschaften'' A redescription of the genus in 2017 corroborated these results, and also presented evidence distinguishing it from ''Chaoyangopterus''. Below are two
cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...
s showing the phylogenetic placement of ''Jidapterus'' within the
Azhdarchoidea Azhdarchoidea ( , meaning "azhdarchid-like forms") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with one tentative member, '' Tendaguri ...
. The one on the left is a topology by Felipe Pinheiro and colleagues in 2011. In their phylogenetic analysis, they recovered ''Jidapterus'' within the family
Tapejaridae Tapejaridae (from a Tupi language, Tupi word meaning 'the lord of the ways') is a Family (biology), family of azhdarchoid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, ...
, more specifically within a subfamily called
Chaoyangopterinae Chaoyangopteridae (or chaoyangopterids) is a family of pterosaurs within the larger group Azhdarchoidea. Chaoyangopterids lived mostly during the Early Cretaceous period, though possible members, '' Microtuban'', '' Xericeps'' and '' Argentinadrac ...
, sister taxon to both ''Chaoyangopterus'' and '' Shenzhoupterus''. The cladogram on the right is a different topology, recovered by
Alexander Kellner Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (born September 26, 1961) is a Brazilian geologist and paleontologist who is a leading expert in the field of studying pterosaurs. His research has focused mainly on fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous Period, i ...
and colleagues in 2019. Unlike the analysis by Pinheiro and colleagues, the analysis by Kellner and colleagues did not recover ''Jidapterus'' as a tapejarid, but instead recovered it within the family Chaoyangopteridae, still the sister taxon to both ''Chaoyangopteridae'' and ''Shenzhoupterus'', though. Chaoyangopteridae was in turn found as the sister taxon of the family
Azhdarchidae Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...
, both within the clade Azhdarchoidea. Topology 1: Pinheiro and colleagues (2011). Topology 2: Kellner and colleagues (2019).


See also

*
List of pterosaur genera This list of pterosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all Genus, genera that have ever been included in the order Pterosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considere ...
*
Timeline of pterosaur research This timeline of pterosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, and Biological taxonomy, taxonomic revisions of pterosaurs, the famed flying reptiles of the Mesozoic Era (ge ...


References


External links


''Jidapterus''
in The Pterosauria {{Taxonbar, from=Q1014502 Chaoyangopteridae Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Taxa named by Dong Zhiming Fossil taxa described in 2003 Pterosaur genera