A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and "hairs" from Inner Mongolia, northeast China  

作　　者：Xiaolin Wang Zhonghe Zhou Fucheng Zhang Xing Xu 

机构地区：[1]Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Pateoanthropol, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China

出　　处：《Chinese Science Bulletin》2002年第3期226-230,共5页

基　　金：. This work was supported by theSpecial Funds for Major State Basic Research Projects of China (Grant No. G000077700); the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX3-J-03); the China National Science Foundation (Grant No. 49832002); the Hundred Ta

摘　　要：We report a new and nearly completely articu-lated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, Jeholopterus ningchen-gensis gen. et sp. nov., with excellently preserved fibres in the wing membrane and 'hairs' in the neck, body and tail re-gions. Many of its characteristics such as a short neck, short metacarpals and distinctively long fifth pedal digit are char-acteristic of rhamphorhynchoids. The new species can be further referred to the ’strange’ short-tailed rhamphorhyn-choid family Anurognathidae. It is much more complete than the other known members of the family, namely, Anurog-nathus from Solnhofen, Germany, Batrachognathus from Karatau, Kazakhstan, and Dendrorhynchoides from Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China. The new pterosaur also shows that the wing membrane is attached to the ankle of the hind limb. The pedal digits are webbed. Furthermore, the 'hair' of Jeholopterus bears some resemblance to the hair-like in-tegumental structures of the feathered dinosaur Sinosaurop-teryx although there is yet no directWe report a new and nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, Jeholopterus ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov., with excellently preserved fibres in the wing membrane and “hairs” in the neck, body and tail regions. Many of its characteristics such as a short neck, short metacarpals and distinctively long fifth pedal digit are characteristic of rhamphorhynchoids. The new species can be further referred to the ‘strange’ short-tailed rhamphorhynchoid family Anurognathidae. It is much more complete than the other known members of the family, namely, Anurognathus from Solnhofen, Germany, Batrachognathus from Karatau, Kazakhstan, and Dendrorhynchoides from Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China. The new pterosaur also shows that the wing membrane is attached to the ankle of the hind limb. The pedal digits are webbed. Furthermore, the “hair” of Jeholopterus bears some resemblance to the hair-like integumental structures of the feathered dinosaur Sinosauropteryx although there is yet no direct evidence to argue for or against their homology.

关 键 词：Anurognathidae Jeholopterus WING membrane 'hair' YIXIAN Formation Inner Mongolia 

分 类 号：Q915[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]