Chinese paleontologists have found fossil remains of a new species of pterosaur in Liaoning province, China.
Xiaolin Wang from the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleague Shunxing Jiang from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology have unearthed fossil skull of a ctenochasmatid pterosaur in the Lower Cretaceous deposits in the region of Zhangjiagou.
Fossil remains of Pterofiltrus qiui (Xiaolin Wang/ Shunxing Jiang)
Their study, published in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, describes a nearly complete skull, mandibles and first two cervical vertebrae of a new species of pterosaur, named Pterofiltus qiui.
The skull of Pterofiltus qiui is 208 mm long, with about 112 teeth in total, including the upper and lower jaws.
“Pterofiltrus qiui is assigned to the Ctenochasmatidae based on the extremely elongated rostrum, a large number of slender teeth, and the upper anterior teeth inclined ventro-anteriorly,” said researchers.
Ctenochasmatidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea.
“Based on a series of combination of characters, the new genus and species Pterofiltus qiui is established. This new member provides further information on the global distribution of the ctenochasmatid in Asia, Europe and America.”
