Zhejiangopterus

Taxobox
name = "Zhejiangopterus"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous


image_width = 200px
image_caption = "Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Pterodactyloidea
familia = Azhdarchidae
genus = "Zhejiangopterus"
genus_authority = Cai & Feng, 1994
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision ="Z. linhaiensis" Cai & Feng, 1994 (type)

"Zhejiangopterus" is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, known from one species ("Z. linhaiensis"), which lived in China during the late Cretaceous Period. "Zhejiangopterus" was a large azhdarchid with a wingspan exceeding 5 metres (16.4 feet). Its skull was long, low, perfectly arched, and lacked a "keel" or any other crests sometimes seen in related species. The nasal opening and the large opening typically present between the nose and eye of archosaurs (the "antorbital fenestra") had joined together in species such as this to create a single oval opening that occupied nearly one half the length of the skull. The beak was long, thin, sharply pointed, and lacked teeth. Its upper leg bone was half the size of its upper arm bone, and strong and thin.Cai, Z., and Wei, F. (1994). "On a new pterosaur ("Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis" gen. et sp. nov.) from Upper Cretaceous in Linhai, Zhejiang, China." "Vertebrata Palasiatica", 32: 181-194.]

References

External links

* [http://archosauria.org/pterosauria/taxonomy/genera/zhejiangopterus.html "Zhejiangopterus"] in The Pterosauria