''Shenzhoupterus'' 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

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 modern-day

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 ...

. Fossil remains of ''Shenzhoupterus'' date back to the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

period, approximately 120 million years ago.

Etymology

''Shenzhoupterus'' was named in 2008 by

Lü Junchang Lü Junchang (; 1965 – 9 October 2018) was a Chinese palaeontologist and professor at the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. An expert on Mesozoic reptiles, he described and named dozens of dinosaur and pterosaur taxa ...

David Unwin David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

, Xu Li and Zhang Xingliao. 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 ''Shenzoupterus chaoyangensis''. The genus name is derived from ''Shenzhou'', an old name for China, "the divine land", 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 ...

refers to Chaoyang.

Description

''Shenzhoupterus'' 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 ...

HGM 41HIII-305A (

Henan Geological Museum The Henan Museum (), located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, is a history and archaeology museum. It has a collection of more than 130,000 pieces of cultural relics through the ages. In addition to its collection of human history the museum ...

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

), the articulated skull and skeleton of a single individual, with a

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 . ''Shenzhoupterus'' lacked teeth, and had a crest on its skull that arched over the eyes and terminated in a small point toward the back of the head. The nasoantorbital fenestra (an opening incorporating the holes for 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 and 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 ...

e) was large and extended over the eyes and braincase.

Classification

Lü and colleagues, who described and named ''Shenzhoupterus'' in 2008, performed a

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

and found that their new genus formed a distinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

of azhdarchoids with '' Chaoyangopterus'', ''

Eoazhdarcho ''Eoazhdarcho'' is a genus of Azhdarchoidea, azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur named in 2005 in paleontology, 2005 by Chinese paleontologists Lü Junchang and Ji Qiang. The type species, type and only known species is ''Eoazhdarcho liaoxiensi ...

'', '' Eopteranodon'', and '' Jidapterus'', which they named Chaoyangopteridae. The

is ''S. chaoyangensis''. 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 ''Shenzhoupterus'' within the group

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 ''Shenzhoupterus'' 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 ''Jidapterus'' and ''Chaoyangopterus''. 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 ''Shenzhoupterus'' within the Tapejaridae, but instead recovered it within the family Chaoyangopteridae, still the sister taxon to both ''Jidapterus'' and ''Chaoyangopterus'', 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). In 2023, Ji ''et al.'' described a chaoyangopterid specimen as a new species of ''Shenzhoupterus'', ''S. sanyainus''. However, a publication later that year transferred that species to the new genus '' Meilifeilong'', using the new combination ''M. sanyainus''.

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, China Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Chaoyangopteridae Fossil taxa described in 2008 Taxa named by Lü Junchang Jiufotang fauna Pterosaur genera

Etymology

Description

Classification

See also

References