zhejiangopterus
Online home of Henry Thomas, paleontologist and overall natural history geek
About Zhejiangopterus
My online handle is named for the azhdarchid pterosaur Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis. Described in 1994, it was the first azhdarchid found to preserve the whole body in articulation, revealing the long limbs, long neck, and large head that would prove to be widespread in the clade.
The first fossil of Zhejiangopterus was discovered in April 1986 by Xu Chengfa, a quarry worker and amateur paleontologist from Aolicun, Zhejiang, China. He wrote to the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History regarding a skeleton he found in a quarry, and the museum thusly dispatched a research team to excavate and study this specimen, as well as at least four others that were subsequently recovered. All specimens of Zhejiangopterus were recovered from the Tangshang Formation (Cai and Wei, 1994). The layer in which Zhejiangopterus was found dates to around 81.5 million years ago (Unwin and Lü, 1997).
The holotype of Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis (named for the nearby city of Linhai, Zhejiang) is ZMNH M1330, a relatively complete impression of the skull of a young individual. Other individuals include ZMNH M1324, M1325, M1328, and M1329 (Cai and Wei, 1994). All fossils are relatively poorly preserved, with many fine anatomical details not preserved and some bones only remaining as impressions, but nonetheless the majority of the species' anatomy is clearly visible.
Originally described as a possible nyctosaurid (Cai and Wei, 1994), it soon became clear that Zhejiangopterus is an azhdarchid (Unwin and Lü, 1997), which every subsequent phylogenetic analysis has found it a part of (e.g., Andres, 2021; Pêgas et al., 2022). Its closest relatives are Aerotitan sudamericanus and Mistralazhdarcho maggii (Zhou et al., 2024).
The wingspan of Zhejiangopterus is estimated to be around 3.47 m (Benson et al., 2014), and its mass is estimated at 7.9 kg (Witton, 2015). Like all azhdarchids, Zhejiangopterus was likely a "terrestrial stalker", similar to modern storks, cranes, and ground hornbills. Foraging on the ground, it would have eaten small animals, eggs, and plant matter (Witton and Naish, 2008).
References
- Andres, B. (2021). "Phylogenetic systematics of Quetzalcoatlus Lawson 1975 (Pterodactyloidea:Azhdarchoidea)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41(sup1): 203-217. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1801703.
- Benson, R.B.J.; Frigot, R.A.; Goswami, A.; Andres, B.; Butler, R.J. (2014). "Competition and constraint drove Cope's rule in the evolution of giant flying reptiles". Nature Communications 5: 3567. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4567.
- Cai, Z.; Wei, F. (1994). "On a new pterosaur (Zhejiangopterus linhaiensis gen. et sp. nov.) from Upper Cretaceous in Linhai, Zhejiang, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 32(3): 181-94.
- Pêgas, R.V.; Holgado, B.; Ortiz David, L.D.; Baiano, M.A.; Costa, F.R. (2022). On the pterosaur Aerotitan sudamericanus (Neuquén Basin, Upper Cretaceous of Argentina), with comments on azhdarchoid phylogeny and jaw anatomy. Cretaceous Research 129: 104998. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104998.
- Unwin, D.M.; Lü, J. (1997). "On Zhejiangopterus and the relationships of pterodactyloid pterosaurs". Historical Biology 12(3-4): 199-210. DOI: 10.108008912969709386563.
- Witton, M.P. (2015). "The lifestyle of Tanystropheus, part 1: was that neck too heavy for use on land?". Mark P. Witton's blog.
- Witton, M.P.; Naish, D. (2008). "A Reappraisal of Azhdarchid Pterosaur Functional Morphology and Paleoecology. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2271. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002271.
- Zhou, X.; Ikegami, N.; Pêgas, R.V.; Yoshinaga, T.; Sato, T.; Mukunoki, T.; Otani, J.; Kobayshi, Y. (2024). "Reassessment of an azhdarchid pterosaur specimen from the Mifune Group, Upper Cretaceous of Japan". Cretaceous Research 167: 106046. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106046.