Yixianopterus

Yixianopterus; Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Pterosauria
Suborder:	†Pterodactyloidea
Clade:	†Istiodactyliformes
Genus:	†Yixianopterus; Lü et al., 2006
Type species
	†Yixianopterus jingangshanensis; Lü et al., 2006

Yixianopterus is a pterodactyloid pterosaur genus from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. It is known from a single specimen, holotype JZMP-V-12, housed at the Benxi Geological Museum. This specimen was doctored before acquisition, with much of the skull being fabricated.[1]

Classification

Lü et al. (2006) assigned Yixianopterus to the lophocratian family Lonchodectidae on the basis of dental characters, classifying it as the first Asian representative of Lonchodectidae.[2] Martill (2011) considered it potentially related to his new taxon Unwindia,[3] and Witton (2013) assigned it to the family Ornithocheiridae.[4]

A reappraisal of the holotype specimen and phylogenetic analysis by Jiang et al. (2020)[1] recovered Yixianopterus as a basal member of the clade Istiodactyliformes:

Yixianopterus

	Liaoxipterus

	Istiodactylus

Ikrandraco

Lonchodraco

Ornithocheirus

	Cimoliopterus

	Anhangueria

References

Jiang, Shun-Xing; Zhang, Xin-Jun; Cheng, Xin; Wang, Xiao-Lin (2020). "A new pteranodontoid pterosaur forelimb from the upper Yixian Formation, with a revision of Yixianopterus jingangshanensis". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. doi:10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.201124.
J. Lü, S. Ji, C. Yuan, Y. Gao, Z. Sun and Q. Ji. 2006. New pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning. Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing 195-203
Martill, David M. (2011). "A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Santana Formation (Cretaceous) of Brazil". Cretaceous Research. 32 (2): 236–243. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2010.12.008.
Witton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

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[Jiang2020-1] Jiang, Shun-Xing; Zhang, Xin-Jun; Cheng, Xin; Wang, Xiao-Lin (2020). "A new pteranodontoid pterosaur forelimb from the upper Yixian Formation, with a revision of Yixianopterus jingangshanensis". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. doi:10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.201124.

[2] J. Lü, S. Ji, C. Yuan, Y. Gao, Z. Sun and Q. Ji. 2006. New pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning. Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing 195-203

[3] Martill, David M. (2011). "A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Santana Formation (Cretaceous) of Brazil". Cretaceous Research. 32 (2): 236–243. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2010.12.008.

[4] Witton, Mark P. (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.