Biology:Huaxiadraco

From HandWiki

Huaxiadraco (meaning "Hua Xia [China] dragon") is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the third valid genus of tapejarid from the Jehol Biota, after Sinopterus and Eopteranodon. It contains one species, Huaxiadraco corollatus, originally assigned to the defunct genus Huaxiapterus.[1]

History of discovery

Holotype of Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a junior synonym of H. corollatus

Huaxiadraco is based on the holotype ZMNH M8131, a nearly complete skeleton. It was originally assigned to the genus Huaxiapterus by Lü Junchang and colleagues in 2006, under the binomial name Huaxiapterus corollatus.[2]et al. also named another species, Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a year later.[3] However, analyses have since found that these species are only distantly related to Huaxiapterus jii,[4] the type species of Huaxiapterus, and thus require a new genus name.[5] A 2023 review of Chinese tapejarids by Pêgas et al. have confirmed these analyses, finding most of them (including Huaxipterus jii) to belong to the coeval Sinopterus dongi, although corollatus was found to belong to a distinct genus. They thus created Huaxiadraco for corollatus, synonymized benxiensis with it, and referred specimens D2525 (previously considered Sinopterus), BMPC 103, 104, and 105 to it.[1]

Classification

File:Jiufotang tapejarids.png
Life restorations of Sinopterus and Huaxiadraco in Jiufotang

Based on their reassessment of the Sinopterus species-complex, Pêgas et al. modified their working dataset, previously used in the redescription of Aerotitan.[6] Their cladogram is shown below:[1]

Tapejaromorpha

Thalassodromidae

Tapejaridae
Caupedactylia

Caupedactylus ybaka

Aymberedactylus cearensis

Eutapejaria
Tapejarinae

Europejara olcadesorum

Tupandactylus imperator

Tupandactylus navigans

Tapejara wellnhoferi

Caiuajara dobruskii

Sinopterinae

Huaxiadraco corollatus

Eopteranodon lii

Sinopterus dongi

Wightia declivirostris

Afrotapejara zouhrii

Bakonydraco galaczi

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pêgas, R. V.; Zhoi, X.; Jin, X.; Wang, K.; Ma, W. (2023). "A taxonomic revision of the Sinopterus complex (Pterosauria, Tapejaridae) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, with the new genus Huaxiadraco". PeerJ 11: e14829. doi:10.7717/peerj.14829. PMID 36788812. 
  2. Lü, J.; Jin, X.; Unwin, D.M.; Zhao, L.; Azuma, Y.; Ji, Q. (2006). "A new species of Huaxiapterus (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China with comments on the systematics of tapejarid pterosaurs". Acta Geologica Sinica 80 (3): 315–326. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2006.tb00251.x. Bibcode2006AcGlS..80..315L. 
  3. Junchang, Lü; Yubo, Gao; Lida, Xing; Zhixin, Li; Zhenyuan, Sun (2007). "New species of Huaxiapterus from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning". Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition 81 (5): 683–687. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb00992.x. 
  4. Andres, B.; Clark, J.; Xu, X. (2014). "The Earliest Pterodactyloid and the Origin of the Group". Current Biology 24 (9): 1011–6. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.030. PMID 24768054. Bibcode2014CBio...24.1011A. 
  5. Pinheiro, F.L.; Fortier, D.C.; Schultz, C.L.; De Andrade, J.A.F.G.; Bantim, R.A.M. (2011). "New information on Tupandactylus imperator, with comments on the relationships of Tapejaridae (Pterosauria)". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56: 567–580. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0057. 
  6. Pêgas, Rubi V.; Holgado, Borja; Ortiz David, Leonardo D.; Baiano, Mattia A.; Costa, Fabiana R. (January 2022). "On the pterosaur Aerotitan sudamericanus (Neuquén Basin, Upper Cretaceous of Argentina), with comments on azhdarchoid phylogeny and jaw anatomy". Cretaceous Research 129. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104998. ISSN 0195-6671. Bibcode2022CrRes.12904998P. 

Wikidata ☰ Q116757376 entry

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