Re: Pterofiltrus, new pterosaur from China

[Matthew Martyniuk <martyniuk@gmail.com>]

I found it odd that the authors themselves state that it cannot be
directly compared to _Beipiaopterus_ and _Elanodactylus_ (due to lack
of cranial elements) and that it differs from _Boreopterus_ in that
"the teeth are inclined anteriorly, while in _Pterofiltrus_, they are
inclined not only anteriorly but also ventrally".

Matt

On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 2:58 PM, Mark Witton <Mark.Witton@port.ac.uk> wrote:
> — Rescued from the truncation monster —
>
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> Holy Hell: are there any Chinese pterosaur specimens that _haven't_ been 
> named yet?
>
> With Pterofiltrus, we now have _six_ genera of ctenochasmatids from a single 
> formation. Other single Chinese rock units also alleged to contain six 
> Darwinopterus-type taxa, six tapejarids, five chaoyangopterids and seven 
> istiodactylids (among others). This is vastly inflated compared to other 
> formations - even rich lagerstatte like Solnhofen or the Smoky Hill Chalk - 
> and the likelihood that we can actually recognise each taxon is slim once 
> ontogeny, dimorphism, individual variation, taphonomy and diagenesis are 
> taken into account. Such propensity for naming every _slightly different_ 
> animal hasn't been seen since the 1800s, and it's making dealing with Chinese 
> pterosaurs - an undeniably important resource - increasingly difficult.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> --
>
> Dr. Mark Witton
> www.markwitton.com
> Lecturer
> Palaeobiology Research Group
> School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
> University of Portsmouth
> Burnaby Building
> Burnaby Road
> Portsmouth
> PO1 3QL
>
> Tel: (44)2392 842418
> E-mail: Mark.Witton@port.ac.uk
>
> If pterosaurs are your thing, be sure to pop by:
>
> - Pterosaur.Net: www.pterosaur.net
> - The Pterosaur.Net blog: http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.com/
> - My pterosaur artwork: www.flickr.com/photos/markwitton
>>>> Ben Creisler <bscreisler@yahoo.com> 01/12/2011 17:24 >>>
> From: Ben Creisler
> bscreisler@yahoo.com
>
> New online in the open access journal Anais da Academia Brasileira de 
> Ciencias:
>
> JIANG, Shunxing  and  WANG, Xiaolin (2011)
> A new ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous, western Liaoning, 
> China.
> Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 83 (4): 1243-1249. ISSN 0001-3765.
> http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0001-37652011000400011.
> http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0001-37652011000400011&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en
> free pdf:   http://www.scielo.br/pdf/aabc/v83n4/10.pdf
>
> A nearly complete skull of a new ctenochasmatid pterosaur, Pterofiltrus qiui 
> gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous deposits of Liaoning, China, is 
> described here. The specimen (IVPP V12339), was collected from the shale of 
> the lower Yixian Formation (125 Ma) at the Zhangjiagou locality. It has the 
> following combination of characters: about 112 teeth in total (including the 
> upper and lower jaws); the dentition occupies more than 50% of the skull 
> length; the anterior teeth vary in size; the mandibular symphysis is longer 
> than half of the whole mandible length; in ventral view, an apparent 
> symphyseal trough in the median part of the symphysis.
>
>
> Note: The name is misspelled in the actual abstract and key words as 
> "Pterofiltus" but is officially Pterofiltrus in the body of the paper.
>