''Vesperopterylus'' (meaning "dusk wing") 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 ...

anurognathid Anurognathidae is a family (biology), family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Eight genera are definitively known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late ...

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

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 ...

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 China, the geologically youngest member of its group. Notably, ''Vesperopterylus'' appears to have a reversed first toe, which would have been suited for gripping; it was likely

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, climbing or clinging to tree branches with curved, sharp claws. It also has a relatively short tail, in contrast with its tailless (''

Jeholopterus ''Jeholopterus'' was a small anurognathid pterosaur known from the Middle to Late Jurassic Daohugou Beds of the Tiaojishan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China, and possibly the Early Cretaceous Sinuiju Formation of North Korea. Naming The gen ...

'') and long-tailed (''

Dendrorhynchoides ''Dendrorhynchoides'' is a genus of anurognathid pterosaur. It contains only the holotype species, ''D. curvidentatus'', which was likely recovered from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China. The genus was fi ...

'') relatives. It was first described and named 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 ...

''et al''. While the original spelling of the name was ''Versperopterylus'', this was a typo, and was emended by the authors in accordance with the

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the I ...

Classification

In 2021, 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 ...

conducted by Xuefang Wei and colleagues recovered ''Vesperopterylus'' within the subfamily

Anurognathinae Anurognathidae is a family (biology), family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Eight genera are definitively known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late ...

, a subfamily within the family

Anurognathidae Anurognathidae is a family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Eight genera are definitively known: '' Anurognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of Germ ...

. Within the subfamily, ''Vesperopterylus'' was recovered in a derived position, sister taxon to ''

Anurognathus ''Anurognathus'' (from the Greek ''ανоυρα γναθος'' "frog jaw") is an extinct genus of small pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Altmühltal Formation of Germany. ''Anurognathus'' was first named and described by Ludwig Döderlein in 19 ...

''. Below is a cladogram representing their phylogenetic analysis:

References

{{pterosaur-stub Anurognathidae Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2017 Taxa named by Lü Junchang