Luopterus

{{short description|Genus of anurognathid pterosaur from the Jurassic period}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = Bathonian-Oxfordian
~{{fossilrange|165|153}}

| parent_authority = Hone, 2020

| taxon = Luopterus mutoudengensis

| authority = (Lü & Hone, 2012)

| display_parents = 2

| synonyms = *Dendrorhynchoides mutoudengensis
Lü & Hone, 2012

}}

Luopterus (meaning "Lü Junchang's wing") is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur containing only the holotype species L. mutoudengensis that is known from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Qinglong, northern Hebei Province, China. It was originally named as a species of Dendrorhynchoides in 2012 but it was moved to the genus Luopterus in 2020.{{cite journal |last1=Hone |first1=D.W.E. |year=2020 |title=A review of the taxonomy and palaeoecology of the Anurognathidae (Reptilia, Pterosauria) |journal=Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition |volume=94 |issue=5 |pages=1676–1692 |doi=10.1111/1755-6724.14585}} Luopterus was originally thought to be from the Early Cretaceous, with a wingspan that is about {{convert|40|cm|in|sp=us}}, making it one of the smallest known pterosaurs.

History

In 2010 the discovery of the holotype, a juvenile, was announced, that proved that a more elongated tail was present after all, albeit not so long as the faked tail of the holotype of Dendrorhynchoides (the animal it was first assigned to): about 85% of femur length.{{cite journal |last1=Hone |first1=D.W.E. |last2=Lü |first2=J. |year=2010 |title=A New Specimen of Dendrorhynchoides (Pterosauria: Anurognathidae) with a Long Tail and the Evolution of the Pterosaurian Tail |journal=Acta Geoscientica Sinica |volume=31 |issue=Supp. 1 |pages=29–30}} This specimen eventually was designated as the holotype of a new species, Dendrorhynchoides mutoudengensis, by Hone and Lü in 2012. The specimen was originally stored in the Guilin Geological Museum and designated GLGMV 0002; later it was moved to the Jinzhou Paleontological Museum and designated JZMP-04-07-3.{{cite journal |last1=Lü |first1=J. |last2=Hone |first2=D.W.E. |year=2012 |title=A New Chinese Anurognathid Pterosaur and the Evolution of Pterosaurian Tail Lengths |journal=Acta Geologica Sinica |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=1317–1325 |doi=10.1111/1755-6724.12002}} In 2020, Hone recognized that D. mutoudengensis was as distinct from D. curvidentatus as other species of anurognathids were from each other, and elevated it to a new genus and combination Luopterus mutoudengensis, named after the late Lü Junchang.

Classification

In 2021, a phylogenetic analysis conducted by Xuefang Wei and colleagues recovered Luopterus within the subfamily Anurognathinae, a subfamily within the family Anurognathidae. Within this subfamily, Luopterus was in more derived position than Dendrorhynchoides.{{Cite journal|last1=Wei |first1=X. |last2=Pêgas |first2=R. V. |last3=Shen |first3=C. |last4=Guo |first4=Y. |last5=Ma |first5=W. |last6=Sun |first6=D. |last7=Zhou |first7=X. |year=2021 |title=Sinomacrops bondei, a new anurognathid pterosaur from the Jurassic of China and comments on the group |journal=PeerJ |volume=9 |pages=e11161 |doi=10.7717/peerj.11161 |pmc=8019321 |doi-access=free}} Below is a cladogram representing their phylogenetic analysis:

{{clade| style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%

|label1=Anurognathidae

|1={{clade

|1="Dimorphodon" weintraubi

|2={{clade

|label1=Batrachognathinae

|1={{clade

|1=Sinomacrops bondei

|2=Batrachognathus volans

}}

|label2=Anurognathinae

|2={{clade