Elanodactylus

Taxobox
name = "Elanodactylus"


image_caption =
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Pterosauria
subordo = Pterodactyloidea
superfamilia = Ctenochasmatoidea
familia = Ctenochasmatidae
genus = "Elanodactylus"
genus_authority = Andres and Ji Q., 2008
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "E. prolatus" Andres and Ji Q., 2008 (type)

"Elanodactylus" is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning, China. It is known from a partial postcranial skeleton that has neck vertebrae similar to those of azhdarchids, long-necked giant pterosaurs most common in the Late Cretaceous, but is otherwise distinct from the skeletons of azhdarchids. Andres and Ji Q., who described and named the fossils in 2008, performed a phylogenetic analysis and found that "Elanodactylus" was a ctenochasmatid. They postulated that ctenochasmatids and azhdarchids convergently evolved similar neck vertebrae. The type species is "E. prolatus".cite journal |last=Andres |first=B. |coauthors=and Ji Q. |year=2008 |title=A new pterosaur from the Liaoning Province of China, the phylogeny of the Pterodactyloidea, and convergence in their cervical vertebrae |journal=Palaeontology |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=453–469 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00761.x]

References

External links

* [http://www.pterosaur.co.uk/species/LCP/Cteno/Elanodact.htm "Elanodactylus"] in the Pterosaur Database (accessed 2008-03-21)