Jidapterus


Jidapterus is a genus of azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. The genus was in 2003 named by Dong Zhiming, Sun Yue-Wu and Wu Shao-Yuan. The type species is Jidapterus edentus. The genus name is derived from Jílín Dàxué or "Jilin University" and a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name means "toothless" in Latin.

The genus is based on holotype CAD-01, a nearly complete skeleton with partial skull. The skull is toothless and relatively long, with a straight and very pointed beak, and a large hole where the antorbital fenestra is joined with the nostrils. The eye sockets are small, and there is no crest along the lower jaw as seen in ornithocheiroids, although a short projection was present at the back of the skull. The wingspan of this individual was estimated to be 1.7 m. Its classification has been unstable; the original authors did not assign it to a group. Some of the original authors later suggested it was a more basal azhdarchoid, whereas another group suggested it was closer to Pteranodon and possibly the same genus as Chaoyangopterus. David Unwin assigned it to Tapejaridae without comment in The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time, but later, in a collaboration with Lü, agreed that it belonged to another azhdarchoid group and was a close relative of Chaoyangopterus, placing both in the new family Chaoyangopteridae. A redescription of the genus in 2017 corroborated these results, and also presented evidence distinguishing it from Chaoyangopterus.

Classification

Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic placement of Jidapterus within Neoazhdarchia from Andres and Myers.