A new specimen of pteranodontid pterosaur Bogolubovia orientalis from the upper cretaceous of Penza Province, Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bogolubovia orientalis, the first pterosaur taxon described from Russia, was known for more than a hundred years from a single specimen, the posterior fragment of the middle cervical vertebra from the Upper Cretaceous (upper Campanian) Rybushka Formation at Malaya Serdoba locality in Penza oblast, Russia. First classified as a pteranodontid, Bogolubovia was long thought to be an azhdarchid, and only very recently has it been again reclassified as a pteranodontid. Here, we describe the second pterosaur vertebra from the Malaya Serdoba locality, an atlantoaxis, which shows distinct pteranodontid characters, such as round cotyle, lack of hypapophysis, rudimentary diapophysis placed anterior to the lateral pneumatic foramen, and pair of posterior lateral pneumatic foramina. The pteranodontid characters of the holotype middle cervical vertebra include high neural arch, which is higher than the centrum and has the postzygapophyses placed well above the condyle, and the large posterior lateral foramina, similar in size with the posterior opening of the neural canal. Both vertebrae can be assigned to the same taxon, Bogolubovia orientalis. Bogolubovia can be distinguished from the pteranodontids Pteranodon and Volgadraco and thus is considered a valid taxon.