A New Species of Huaxiapterus （Pterosauria： Pterodactyloidea） from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Liaoning, China with Comments on the Systematics of Tapejarid Pterosaurs

A new species of tapejarid pterosaur, Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is erected on the basis of a nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Huaxiapterus coroUatus sp. nov. is characterized by a hatchet-shaped rectangular process on the premaxilla, whose short axis is perpendicular to the anterior margin of the premaxillae. Except for this process, other characters of the skull such as the breadth of the snout between the anterior margin of the nasoantorbital fenestra and the anterior margin of the premaxilla are similar to that of Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus and a second Chinese tapejarid, Sinopterus, share several unique cranial characters in common with Tapejara and these three genera appear to be more closely related to each other than to other azhdarchoids. The Chinese tapejarids （Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus） have relatively elongate skulls and weakly developed cranial crests and seem to be less derived than Tapejara, with its shorter, deeper skull and large cranial crest. Tupuxuarids （Tupuxuara and Thalassodromeus） have often been associated with tapejarids in the family Tapejaridae, but this relationship is controversial because some phylogenetic analyses have supported the pairing of tupuxuarids with Azhdarchidae. We propose that Tapejaridae be restricted to Tapejara, Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus.

A New Species of Huaxiapterus (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Liaoning, China with Comments on the Systematics of Tapejarid Pterosaurs

A new species of tapejarid pterosaur, Huaxiapterus corollatus sp. nov. is erected on the basis of a nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Huaxiapterus corollatus sp. nov. is characterized by a hatchet-shaped rectangular process on the premaxilla, whose short axis is perpendicular to the anterior margin of the premaxillae. Except for this process, other characters of the skull such as the breadth of the snout between the anterior margin of the nasoantorbital fenestra and the anterior margin of the premaxilla are similar to that of Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus and a second Chinese tapejarid, Sinopterus, share several unique cranial characters in common with Tapejara and these three genera appear to be more closely related to each other than to other azhdarchoids. The Chinese tapejarids (Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus) have relatively elongate skulls and weakly developed cranial crests and seem to be less derived than Tapejara, with its shorter, deeper skull and large cranial crest. Tupuxuarids (Tupuxuara and Thalassodromeus) have often been associated with tapejarids in the family Tapejaridae, but this relationship is controversial because some phylogenetic analyses have supported the pairing of tupuxuarids with Azhdarchidae. We propose that Tapejaridae be restricted to Tapejara, Sinopterus and Huaxiapterus.