Nemicolopterus crypticus
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Nemicolopterus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Azhdarchoidea |
| Genus: |
†Nemicolopterus Wang et al., 2008 |
| Type species | |
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†Nemicolopterus crypticus Wang et al., 2008 |
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Nemicolopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur described in 2008. N. crypticus is the type species and sole species known. The generic name "Nemicolopterus" comes from the following Greek words: "Nemos" meaning "forest", "ikolos" meaning "dweller", and "pteros" meaning "wing". The specific name crypticus is from "kryptos", meaning "hidden". Thus "Nemicolopterus crypticus" means "Hidden flying forest dweller". It lived in the Jehol Biota 120 million years ago.
N. crypticus is known from a single fossil, catalog number IVPP V-14377, in the collection of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China. The fossil was collected from the Jiufotang Formation, which is of Aptian age (120 mya). It was discovered in the Luzhhouou locality of Yaolugou Town, Jianchang County, Huludao City, western Liaoning Province in northeastern China.
The wingspan of slightly under 25 centimeters (10 in) makes N. crypticus smaller than all but a few specimens of hatchling pterosaurs. The specimen is not fully grown, but Wang et al. (2008) cite the amount of bone fusion and the ossification of the toes, gastralia and sternum as indicating that it was a sub-adult rather than a hatchling. Darren Naish argued on his popular weblog that, due to the fact pterosaurs are highly precocial, bone fusion and ossification could occur very early, and Nemicolopterus might in fact be a hatchling individual of the genus Sinopterus.
Nemicolopterus is a toothless pterosaur. Wang et al. (2008) concluded that it is a primitive intermediate between the Pteranodontoidea and the Dsungaripteroidea. Though Nemicolopterus is tiny, some of the members of these groups eventually evolved into the largest flying animals that ever lived, such as Quetzalcoatlus.
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