| Huanhepterus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeletal restoration showing preserved elements in white and impressions in grey | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Family: | †Ctenochasmatidae |
| Subfamily: | †Gnathosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Huanhepterus Dong, 1982 |
| Type species | |
| †Huanhepterus quingyangensis Dong, 1982 | |
Huanhepterus is anextinctgenus ofctenochasmatidpterodactyloidpterosaur from theEarly Cretaceous period of what is nowQingyang,Gansu,China.
The genus was named byDong Zhiming in 1982. Thetype species isHuanhepterus quingyangensis. The genus name refers to theHuang Jian (not theYellow River or "Huang He", but a smaller tributary of theJinghe River in Gansu), and combines it with a Latinized Greekpteron, "wing". Thespecific name refers toQinyang County.
Huanhepterus is based on theholotype specimen,IVPP V9070, a partial articulated skeleton consisting mostly of impressions of the left half of the body and thebeak-end of the skull. Thefossil was in May 1978 found in a quarry operated by theSanshilipu-commune, when an explosion exposed a vertebra. Its force obliterated the right half of the specimen. IVPP V9070 hails from the Early Cretaceous-ageHanhe-Huachi Formation of theZhidan Group.
Huanhepterus had a long, low skull, with a low crest running along the midline that was higher toward the tip of the snout and became smaller toward the eyes. Theteeth, about 26 pairs in the upper and 25 in the lower jaws, were slender and numerous, and became shorter farther from the 11th pair, both to the front as to the back, where they become absent completely in posterior part of the snout. Thecervicalvertebrae were long, as were the toes, and there was no fused complex of the front dorsal vertebrae (notarium), as seen in other pterosaurs. Thewingspan of the type individual was estimated at 2.5 m (8.2 ft). This genus was described as most likeGnathosaurus.[1] David Unwin later referred it theGnathosaurinae, a subgroup of theCtenochasmatidae.
Below iscladogram following a topology by Andres, Clark and Xu (2014). In the analysis, they recoveredHuanhepterus within the family Ctenochasmatidae, more precisely within the subfamilyGnathosaurinae, though placed in thebasalmost position.[2]
LikeGnathosaurus, it may have used its tightly-packed, slender teeth to filter food from water.[3]
