''Vectidraco'' (meaning "dragon from the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

"), is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

azhdarchoid Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early Cretaceous, Early and Late Cretaceo ...

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...

from the

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Discovery and naming

In November 2008, Daisy Morris of Whitwell,

, a four-year-old avid natural history collector, discovered some small bones in a rock below the cliff face of

Atherfield Point Atherfield is a rural location in the south west of the Isle of Wight, UK. It includes the small settlements of Atherfield Green and Little Atherfield, as well as several farms, and is set in largely open farmland. To the south west it is bound ...

at the southwest coast of Wight. Her parents carefully collected all additional rocks with fossils in them that they could find at the site. In April 2009, Daisy's discovery was authenticated by

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

, from the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. The Morris family donated the specimen to the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

A scientific paper was published in 2013 about the find in the

electronic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

PLoS ONE, titled ''A New Small-Bodied Azhdarchoid Pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of England and Its Implications for Pterosaur Anatomy, Diversity and Phylogeny''. In it

Darren Naish Darren William Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator. As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including '' Eotyrannus'', ''Xeno ...

, Martin Simpson, and Gareth Dyke described and named the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

''Vectidraco daisymorrisae''. The generic name is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''Vectis'', the Roman name of the island now known as the Isle of Wight, and ''dracō'', meaning "dragon". The specific name honours the discoverer Daisy Morris. A children's book has also been written by Simpson about Daisy Morris's discovery, called ''Daisy and the Isle of Wight Dragon''. The only known specimen,

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

NHMUK PV R36621, was uncovered in the

Chale Clay Member Chale is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight of England, in the United Kingdom. It is located three kilometres from Niton in the south of the Island in the area known as the Back of the Wight. The village of Chale lies at the foot of ...

of the

Atherfield Clay Formation The Atherfield Clay Formation is a Geological formation in Southern England. Part of the Lower Greensand Group it dates to the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronos ...

of the

Lower Greensand Group The Lower Greensand Group is a geological unit present across large areas of Southern England. It was deposited during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It predominantly consists of sandstone and unconsolidated sand that were ...

, a clay layer of the ''Deshayesites forbesi'' zone, ''Deshayesites fittoni'' subzone, dating from the early

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ag ...

, with an age of 124 million years. It consists of the left side of a pelvis, the right

ischium The ischium () form ...

, the rear dorsal vertebra and the first three sacral

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

, of a subadult or adult individual.

Description

''Vectidraco'' is a relatively small pterosaur. The pelvis is four centimetres long as preserved. ''Vectidracos

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

was estimated at seventy-five centimetres, its total body length at thirty-five centimetres. In view of its affinities, the describing authors assumed it was a toothless form, featuring a crest on its snout. Several unique derived traits,

autapomorphies In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to t ...

, were established. The hip joint is bordered at its top rear corner by a triangular depression. This depression is overhung by a ridge running downwards to the rear. The front blade of the

ilium Ilium or Ileum may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Ilion (Asia Minor), former name of Troy * Ilium (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium Building, a ...

features an undivided roughly oval depression at its front inner side, below a convex surface. Furthermore, a unique combination of traits is present in that the elongated rear blade of the ilium is T-shaped, terminating in a wide expansion also projecting upwards, that is longer than the shaft of the rear blade itself. Damage to the ilium shows the presence of camellate bone, internal air chambers. Also all the preserved vertebrae are pneumatised.

Classification

''Vectidraco'' was assigned to the

Azhdarchoidea Azhdarchoidea (or azhdarchoids) is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea, more specifically within the group Ornithocheiroidea. Pterosaurs belonging to this group lived throughout the Early and Late Cretaceous periods, with ...

, in a basal position. If correct, this would make it one of the smallest azhdarchoids known. In 2018, paleontologist Nicholas Longrich and colleagues had, in a large

phylogenetic analysis In biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that pro ...

, found ''Vectidraco'' in a more derived position within the Azhdarchoidea, more specifically as the sister taxon of both '' Tapejara'' and '' Europejara'' within the family

Tapejaridae Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most prim ...

. In 2020, in a phylogenetic analysis conducted by David Martill and colleagues, ''Vectidraco'' was once again found within the Tapejaridae. Their analysis follows that of Longrich and colleagues, in which the Tapejaridae was divided into two lineages: the

Tapejarinae Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning "the old being") are a family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most prim ...

and the Sinopterinae. ''Vectidraco'', just like in the analysis by Longrich and colleagues, was recovered as the sister taxon of both ''Tapejara'' and ''Europejara'', within the subfamily Tapejarinae. Their cladogram is shown below:

References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Cretaceous, United Kingdom Tapejaromorphs Aptian life Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Europe Cretaceous England Fossils of England Fossil taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by Darren Naish