Discovery of a pterodactylid pterosaur from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China

Abstract

A well-preserved pterosaur with nearly complete skull is described from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Sihetun in western Liaoning. It is characterized by a low and long crestless skull, slender and pointed teeth, long metacarpal, nearly equal length of metatarsals I–III and short pedal digit V. It is referred to a new genus and species of the family Pterodactylidae:Haopterus gracilis gen. et sp. nov. This is the first pterosaur with a nearly complete skull from the Jehol Biota; it also represents the first non-controversial fossil record of Pterodactylidae in Asia.Haopterus is more derived thanPterodactylus from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen in Germany. This discovery extends the distribution of the family Pterodactylidae from Europe and Africa to Asia and its latest occurrence from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The discovery ofHaopterus gracilis provides further evidence for the study of the origin and radiation of the Jehol Biota; it also sheds new light on the evolution and distribution of pterosaurs in the late Mesozoic.