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New Jianchangnathus?

Saturday, July 5, 2014 6:44
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Figure 1. The new Jianchangnathus(?) compared to the holotype. The new one has a quite broad skull and an antorbital fenestra that extends below the orbit, unlike the holotype.

Figure 1. The new Jianchangnathus(?) compared to the holotype. The new one has a quite broad cranium and an antorbital fenestra that extends below the orbit, unlike the holotype, but like Scaphognathus. Other differences are just as obvious. 

A new pterosaur PMOL-AP00028 (Zhou 2014) has been attributed to Jianchangnathus IVPP V 16866, Cheng et al. 2012), but that does not seem warranted in this case. The comparable traits are not close matches. Zhou did not make graphic comparisons of the holotype and referred specimen. Rather the two specimens were combined then compared to other rhamph-grade taxa as illustrated by Wellnhofer (1991 and earlier). I think a step or two was skipped in Zhou 2014.

Based on the orbit overhanging the antorbital fenestra, the closer match might be to Scaphognathus itself, which was close to the size of the referred specimen.

References
Cheng X, Wang X-L, Jiang S-X and Kellner AWA 2012. A new scaphognathid pterosaur from western Liaoning, China. Historical Biology iFirst article available online 29 Nov 2011, 1-11. doi:10.1080/08912963.2011.635423
Zhou C-F 2014. Cranial morphology of a Scaphognathus-like pterosaur, Jianchangnathus robustus, based on a new fossil from the Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(3):597-605.

wiki/Jianchangnathus



Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/new-jianchangnathus/

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