"Biostratigraphy of new pterosaurs from China"

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

Nature 398, 573 (1999) © Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 4/15/99, has
an article by S.-A. Ji, Q. Ji,  and K. Padian -- "Biostratigraphy of new 
pterosaurs from China."  The new pterosaurs are _Dendrorhynchus 
curvidentatus_ and  _ Eosipterus yangi_.

> Pterosaurs are represented in China by five genera and some 
> isolated bones ranging in age from the Middle Jurassic to the Late 
> Cretaceous period.. Four of these genera belong to the derived 
> monophyletic subgroup Pterodactyloidea; only the Middle Jurassic
> Angustinaripterus from Dashanpu, Sichuan, is a non-pterodactyloid 
> (traditionally 'rhamphorhynchoids', a paraphyletic taxon). Two further 
> pterosaurs (Fig. 1) from the Chaomidianzi Formation of the Beipiao 
> area, western Liaoning Province, occur in the Liaoning beds, several 
> metres higher than the compsognathid coelurosaur Sinosauropteryx 
> and the basal bird Confuciusornis. Our analysis of these two fossils and 
> other components of the fauna suggest a Late Jurassic biostratigraphic 
> age for the Liaoning beds, which are important in the study of avian 
> origins.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com