| Boreopterids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeletal diagram ofZhenyuanopterus | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Ornithocheiromorpha |
| Clade: | †Lanceodontia |
| Clade: | †Ornithocheiriformes |
| Family: | †Boreopteridae Lüet al., 2006 |
| Type species | |
| †Boreopterus cuiae Lü & Ji, 2005 | |
| Genera | |
Boreopteridae (meaning "northern wings") is a group ofpterodactyloidpterosaurs from theAptian-ageLower CretaceousYixian Formation ofLiaoning,China.[1]
In 2006,Lü Junchang and colleagues named the clade Boreopteridae for the clade containing the common ancestor ofBoreopterus andFeilongus and all its descendants, which the authors reclassified as close relatives of theornithocheirids. (Feilongus had originally been considered agallodactylid). Many possible boreopterids were subsequently described,[2] one possible example beingAetodactylus, which has been claimed to be similar toBoreopterus.[3] Originally considered close relatives of the ornithocheirids, many of these supposed boreopterids have been found to belong to other groups of the pterodactyloid lineage. In 2012, a phylogenetic analysis by Lüet al. divided the Boreopteridae into two subfamilies: Boreopterinae, comprisingBoreopterus andZhenyuanopterus, and Moganopterinae, comprisingFeilongus andMoganopterus.[4] However, in 2013, Andres & Myers found bothBoreopterus andFeilongus to be closely related toCycnorhamphus, making them members of the Gallodactylidae as had been originally thought whenFeilongus was discovered.[5] A subsequent analysis including the other supposed boreopterids found thatBoreopterus itself, and therefore the name Boreopteridae, was indeed a member of theornithocheiroid clade, but thatFeilongus was in fact actenochasmatoid closely related toGnathosaurus.[6] The true boreopterid clade was found to containBoreopterus,Guidraco, andZhenyuanopterus by Andres and colleagues in 2014,[6] and was then found to contain justBoreopterus andZhenyuanopterus by Wu and colleagues in 2017,[7] a subsequently followed classification by recent studies.[8][9][10][11]
The Boreopteridae was included in an analysis by Brian Andres and colleagues in 2014, where it was placed in a basal position within the Anhangueria.[6] However, a topology recovered by Nicholas Longrich and colleagues in 2018 placed the family Boreopteridae as the sister taxon of the familyLonchodectidae, while also placed outside the Anhangueria.[8]
Topology 1: Andreset al. (2014).[6] | Topology 2: Longrichet al. (2018).[8]
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The known taxa come from theYixian Formation ofLiaoning, which represented a lake system, suggesting that these animals occurred in freshwater habitats. They are thought to have foraged while swimming, trapping prey with their needle-like teeth;[2] this method of fishing was probably analogous to that ofPlatanista dolphins, which share a similar dentition.
