| Huaxiadraco | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype specimen | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Azhdarchoidea |
| Family: | †Tapejaridae |
| Subfamily: | †Sinopterinae |
| Genus: | †Huaxiadraco Pêgaset al., 2023 |
| Type species | |
| †Huaxiapterus corollatus Lüet al., 2006 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Huaxiadraco (meaning "Hua Xia [China] dragon") is agenus oftapejaridpterodactyloidpterosaur from theAptian-ageLower CretaceousJiufotang Formation ofChaoyang,Liaoning, China. It is the third valid genus of tapejarid from theJehol Biota, afterSinopterus andEopteranodon. It contains one species,Huaxiadraco corollatus, originally assigned to the defunct genusHuaxiapterus.[1]
Huaxiadraco is based on the holotype ZMNH M8131, a nearly complete skeleton. It was originally assigned to the genusHuaxiapterus byLü Junchang and colleagues in 2006, under the binomial nameHuaxiapterus corollatus.[2] Lüet al. also named another species,Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a year later.[3] However, analyses have since found that these species are only distantly related toHuaxiapterus jii,[4] thetype species ofHuaxiapterus, and thus require a new genus name.[5] A 2023 review of Chinese tapejarids by Pêgaset al. have confirmed these analyses, finding most of them (includingHuaxipterus jii) to belong to the coevalSinopterus dongi, althoughcorollatus was found to belong to a distinct genus. They thus createdHuaxiadraco forcorollatus, synonymizedbenxiensis with it, and referred specimens D2525 (previously consideredSinopterus), BMPC 103, 104, and 105 to it.[1]
Based on their reassessment of theSinopterus species-complex, Pêgaset al. modified their working dataset, previously used in the redescription ofAerotitan.[6] Their cladogram is shown below:[1]
