Moganopterus is an extinct genus of boreopterid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning Province, China.

 The fossil of Moganopterus was discovered at the village of Xiaosanjiazi near the town of Lamadong in Liaoning Province. In 2012 it was named and described by Lü Junchang, Pu Hanyong, Xu Li, Wu Yanhua and Wei Xuefang as the type species Moganopterus zhuiana. The generic name is derived from the legendary sword couple Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, in reference to the blade-like jaws, and a Latinised Greek πτερόν, pteron, "wing". The specific name honours Ms. Zhu Haifen, who made the specimen available to science.

 The holotype, 41HIII0419, was uncovered in a layer of the Yixian Formation, dating from the Aptian, about 125 million years old. It consists of an almost complete skull with lower jaws and the second to fourth neck vertebrae. The fossil is compressed on a slab and counterslab, the splitting of the two plates having damaged some bones. The specimen is part of the collection of the Geological Museum of Henan.

 Moganopterus is a large pterosaur. The skull has a preserved length of about ninety-five centimetres and the longest preserved neck vertebra, the fourth, a length of 14.5 centimetres. The skull is the largest known of any toothed pterosaur. The size of skull and neck indicates a wing span of at least five metres and probably of over 7 metres (23 ft), making Moganopterus one of the largest known pterosaurs.

 Apart from the size, the describers established some diagnostic traits. The jaws are very elongated and have straight edges. The total number of teeth in the skull is at least sixty-two. The large skull opening, the fenestra nasoantorbitalis, is rectangular and represents 22% of the snout length. The back of the skull bears a long and narrow parietal crest, sticking out at an angle of 15° to the longitudinal skull axis. Not taking into account the crest, the skull is 11.5 times longer than tall. The neck vertebrae are five times longer than high.

 Moganopterus shows an extreme elongation of the upper and lower jaws. The back of the skull is just six centimetres high and its top gradually descends towards the pointed snout tip. On the front of the snout a low triangular crest is present, five centimetres long and six millimetres tall. The profile of the skull is continued by a narrow crest sticking out at the back. It is unknown whether this crest was flat or rod-like; its length cannot be determined because it reaches the edge of the slabs. The lower jaws, lacking a keel, have a length of 68.5 centimetres. They are about as tall as the snout and have a pointed tip.

 The jaws are lined with long conical pointed teeth, up to thirty-one millimetres in length, slightly recurved and more or less oriented vertically. The describers estimated there were fifteen teeth in the upper jaw and seventeen in the lower jaw for a total of sixty-four, which closely matches the number of sixty-two actually found. The teeth rows stretch from the very front of the head until the back edge of the fenestra nasoantorbitalis. They are associated with oblique cellular structures visible in the bone of the upper and lower jaws, the nature of which has not been determined. Hollow structures, reinforced by struts, can also be seen in the parietal crest and the vertebrae. The preserved neck vertebrae have a length of eleven millimetres, eleven centimetres and 14.5 centimetres respectively. The fourth cervical is 7.25 times as long as it is tall.

 Moganopterus was in 2012 assigned to the Boreopteridae, forming a Moganopterinae with its sister taxon Feilongus.

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 Pterodaustro is a genus of Cretaceous pterodactyloid pterosaur from South America, which lived 105 million years ago.

 The first fossils, among them the holotype PLV 2571, a thigh bone, were in the late sixties discovered by Bonaparte in the Lagarcito Formation, situated in the San Luis Province of Patagonia, Argentina, and dating from the Albian. The genus has later also been found in Chile in the Santa Ana Formation. At the Argentine site, the just 50 m² large "Loma del Pterodaustro", since then during several expeditions over 750 Pterodaustro specimens have been collected, 288 of them having been catalogued until 2008. This makes the species one of the best known pterosaurs, with examples from all growth stages, from egg to adult.

 The genus was named in 1969 by José Bonaparte as an as yet undescribed nomen nudum. The first description followed in 1970, making the name valid, the type species being Pterodaustro guiñazui. The genus name is derived from Greek pteron, "wing" and Latin auster, "south (wind)". The elements are combined as a condensed pteron de austro, "wing from the south". The specific name honours paleontologist Román Guiñazú. It was emended in 1978 by Peter Wellnhofer into guinazui, because diacritical signs such as the tilde are not allowed in species names.

 Pterodaustro has a very elongated skull, up to 29 centimetres long. The portion in front of the eye sockets comprises 85% of skull length. The long snout and lower jaws curve strongly upwards; the tangent at the point of the snout is perpendicular to that of the jaw joint. Pterodaustro has about a thousand bristle-like modified teeth in its lower jaws that might have been used to strain crustaceans, plankton, algae, and other small creatures from the water. These teeth stand for the most part not in separate alveoli but in two long grooves parallel to the edges of the jaw. They have a length of three centimetres and are oval in cross-section, with a width of just 0.2 - 0.3 millimetres. At first it was suspected these structures were not true teeth at all, but later research established they were built like normal teeth, including enamel, dentine and a pulpa. Despite being made of very hard material, they might still have been flexible to some extent due to their extreme length-width ratio, a bend of up to 45° being possible. The upper jaws also carried teeth, but these were very small with a flat conical base and a spatula-formed crown. These teeth also do not have separate tooth sockets but were apparently held by ligaments in a special tooth pad, that was also covered with small ossicles, or bone plates.

 The back of the skull was also rather elongated and in a low position; there are some indications for a low parietal crest.

 Pterodaustro had an adult wingspan of approximately 250 centimetres (8.20 ft). Its hindlimbs are rather robust and its feet large. Its tail is uniquely elongated for a pterodactyloid, containing 22 caudal vertebrae, whereas other members of this group have at most sixteen.

 Pterodaustro probably waded in shallow water like flamingos, straining food with its tooth comb, a method called "filter feeding". Once it caught its food, Pterodaustro probably mashed it with the small, globular teeth present in its upper jaw.

 Robert Bakker incorrectly suggested that, like flamingos, this pterosaur's diet may have resulted in a pink hue. However, recent studies show that only Neoaves can sequester carotenoids for use as a pigment in the feathers rather than just the skin or beak, and even then they require to enhance it with structural colors, so a pink hue for any pterosaur seems extremely unlikely.

 At least two specimens of Pterodaustro have been found, MIC V263 and MIC V243, with gizzard stones in the stomach cavity, the first ever reported for any pterosaur. These clusters of small stones with angled edges support the idea that Pterodaustro ate mainly small, hard-shelled aquatic crustaceans using filter-feeding. Such invertebrates are abundant in the sediment of the fossil site.

 A study of the growth stages of Pterodaustro concluded that juveniles grew relatively fast in their first two years, attaining about half of the adult size. Then they reached sexual maturity, growing at a slower rate for four to five years until there was a determinate growth stop.

 In 2004 a Pterodaustro embryo in an egg was reported, specimen MHIN-UNSL-GEO-V246. The egg was elongated, six centimetres long and 22 millimetres across and its mainly flexible shell was covered with a thin layer, 0.3 mm thick, of calcite. Three-dimensionally preserved eggs were reported in 2014.

 Comparisons between the scleral rings of Pterodaustro and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been nocturnal, and may have had similar activity patterns to modern anseriform birds that feed at night.

 Bonaparte in 1970 assigned Pterodaustro to the Pterodactylidae; in 1971 to a Pterodaustriidae. However, from 1996 cladistic studies by Alexander Kellner and David Unwin have shown a position in the Ctenochasmatidae, together with other filter feeders.

 The genus Puntanipterus might be a subjective junior synonym of Pterodaustro.

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 Feilongus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatoid or ornithocheiroid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Beipiao, Liaoning, China.

 The genus was named in 2005 by Wang Xiaolin e.a.. The type species is Feilongus youngi. The genus name is derived from Feilong, the "flying dragon". The specific name honours the late Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian or "Chung Chien Young".

 Feilongus is based on holotype IVPP V-12539, a skull and articulated mandible, with on the same plate the detached posterior braincase, of a subadult individual. The fossil is strongly crushed. It is notable for having two bony crests on the skull (one long and low on middle of the snout, and one projecting backwards from the rear of the skull), and for the upper jaws being 10% or 27 millimetres longer than the lower jaws, giving it a pronounced overbite. The preserved part of the second crest was short with the leading edge rounded, and may have had a nonbony extension, now lost. The skull of the only known individual is 390-400 millimeters long (15.4-15.7 inches) and extremely elongated with a slightly concave top. Its wingspan was estimated by Wang to have been around 2.4 meters (7.9 feet), making it large for a basal pterodactyloid. The skull and lower jaws held 76 long, curved needle-like teeth, eighteen in the upper, nineteen in the lower jaw, confined to the beak ends, the anterior third, of the jaws.

 A cladistic analysis by the describers showed Feilongus as the sister taxon of a clade consisting of Gallodactylus and Cycnorhamphus, meaning it was a member of the Gallodactylidae sensu Kellner, a group of ctenochasmatoids, within the larger Archaeopterodactyloidea, the clade containing according to Alexander Kellner the most basal pterodactyloids. The Ctenochasmatoidea are known for having numerous small, thin teeth, possibly for straining food from water, as flamingos do today. However, in 2006 an analysis by Lü Junchang had as outcome that Feilongus was not an archaeopterodactyloid, but a member of the Ornithocheiroidea sensu Kellner, closer to the Anhangueridae. This means that using the alternative terminology of David Unwin they are close to the Ornithocheiroidea sensu Unwin, a group the members of which are typically more adapted to soaring and a piscivore, or fish-eating, diet. Another publication following this general line of thought has put Feilongus and Boreopterus into a new ornithocheiroid family, the Boreopteridae.

 В Ляонине, северо-восточной области Китая, палеонтологи обнаружили окаменелости двух новых видов птерозавров. Feilongus youngi и Nurhachius ignaciobritoi разделяли небеса с ранними птицами 120 миллионов лет назад.

 Feilongus имел два гребня на голове, бегущих от кончика "носа" до её задней части. Один гребень — в передней части морды, другой — в задней части головы. Этот птерозавр имел неправильный прикус, а его зубы были изогнутыми и иглообразными. А вот зубы Nurhachius ignaciobritoi были треугольными. 

 Оба вида принадлежат к группе, ранее найденной только в Европе.

 Размах крыльев, затянутых тонкой кожей, у этих летающих ящеров составлял около 2,5 метров. Учёные предполагают, что этим видам был свойственен не машущий полёт, а парение.

 Один из палеонтологов, опубликовавших новое большое исследование птерозавров, Александр Келлнер (Alexander Kellner) из федерального университета в Рио (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), сообщил любопытную подробность. 

 Он отметил, что пересекавшиеся во времени птерозавры и ранние птицы населяли, в массе своей, различные среды обитания и очень мало конкурировали друг с другом.

 Птерозавры преобладали над птицами в прибрежных районах, в то время как птицы господствовали в глубине континента. Хотя и те, и другие, в принципе, встречались в каждом из этих биотопов.

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 Pterodactylus ( /ˌtɛrəˈdæktɨləs/ from the Greek πτεροδάκτυλος, pterodaktulos, meaning "winged finger" /ˌtɛrəˈdæktɨl/) is a genus of pterosaurs, whose members are popularly known as pterodactyls. It was the first to be named and identified as a flying reptile. Its fossil remains have been found primarily in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany, dated to the late Jurassic Period (early Tithonian), about 150.8-148.5 million years ago, though more fragmentary remains have been identified from elsewhere in Europe and in Africa. It was a carnivore and probably preyed upon fish and other small animals. Like all pterosaurs, the wings of Pterodactylus were formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges.

 The name derives from the Greek words pteron (πτερόν, meaning 'wing') and daktylos (δάκτυλος, meaning 'finger') and refers to the way in which the wing is supported by one large finger.

 Pterodactylus is known from over 27 fossil specimens, and though most of those are juveniles, many preserve complete skeletons. The discovery of several specimens with well-preserved soft tissue traces has allowed scientists to faithfully reconstruct the life appearance of Pterodactylus. Pterodactylus was a relatively small pterosaur, with an estimated adult wingspan of about 1.5 meters (5 ft) in P. antiquus. Other "species" were once thought to be smaller. However, these smaller specimens have been shown to represent juveniles of Pterodactylus, as well as its contemporary relatives Ctenochasma, Germanodactylus and Gnathosaurus.

 The skulls of adult Pterodactylus were long and narrow with about 90 large, conical teeth. The teeth extended back from the tips of both jaws, and became smaller farther away from the jaw tips (unlike some relatives, where teeth were absent in the upper jaw tip and were relatively uniform in size). The teeth extended farther back into the jaw than in close relatives, as some were present below the front of the nasoantorbital fenestra, the largest opening in the skull. Unlike related species, the skull and jaws were straight, not curved upwards. A small, hooked beak was present in the very tips of the jaws, with both upper and lower hook no larger than the teeth that surrounded them.

 The neck was long, and covered in long, bristle-like pycnofibres. A throat pouch extended from about the middle of the lower jaw to the upper part of the neck.ъ

 Pterodactylus, like related pterosaurs, had a crest on its skull composed mainly of soft tissues. In adult Pterodactylus, this crest extended between the back edge of the antorbital fenestra (the largest opening in the skull) and the back of the skull. The back of the crest extended upward into a backward-curving cone-shaped structure. The crest was composed mainly of long, hardened fibres (twisted together in a spiral pattern inside the conical part of the crest), and covered in scales. In at least one specimen of P. longicollum, the crest had a short bony base, also seen in related pterosaurs like Germanodactylus. Crests have only been found on large, fully adult specimens of Pterodactylus, indicating that this was a display structure and only developed when individuals reached maturity.

 The wings were long, and the wing membranes appear to have lacked the furry covering of pycnofibres present in some other pterosaurs (such as Pterorhynchus and Jeholopterus). The wing membrane extended between the fingers and toes as webbing, and a uropatagium (secondary membrane between the feet and tail) was present, as well as a propatagium (membrane between the wrist and shoulder). Both the finger and toe claws were covered in keratin sheaths that extended and curved into sharp hooks well beyond their bony cores.

 Like other pterosaurs (notably Rhamphorhynchus), Pterodactylus specimens can vary considerably based on age or level of maturity. Both the proportions of the limb bones, size and shape of the skull, and size and number of teeth changed as the animals grew. Historically, this has led to various growth stages (including growth stages of related pterosaurs) being mistaken for new species of Pterodactylus. Several detailed studies using various methods to measure growth curves among known specimens have demonstrated that there is actually only one valid Pterodactylus species, P. antiquus.

 The youngest immature Pterodactylus specimens have a small number of teeth (as few as 15), and the teeth have a relatively broad base. The teeth of older specimens are both narrower and more numerous (up to 90 teeth are present in some specimens).

 Pterodactylus specimens can be divided into two distinct year classes. In the first year class, the skulls are only 15-45mm in length. The second year class is characterized by skulls 55-95mm long, but still immature. These first two size groups were once classified as juveniles and adults of the species P. kochi, until further study showed that even the supposed "adults" were immature. A third year class is represented by specimens of the "traditional" P. antiquus, as well as a few isolated, large specimens once assigned to P. kochi that overlap P. antiquus in size. However, all specimens in this third year class also show sign of immaturity. Fully mature Pterodactylus specimens remain unknown, or may have been mistakenly classified as a different genus.

 The distinct year classes of Pterodactylus antiquus specimens show that this species, like the contemporary Rhamphorhynchus muensteri, likely bred seasonally and grew consistently during its lifetime. A new generation of 1st year class P. antiquus would have been produced seasonally, and reached 2nd-year size by the time the next generation hatched, creating distinct 'clumps' of similarly-sized and aged individuals in the fossil record. The smallest size class probably consisted of individuals that had just begun to fly and were less than one year old. The second year class represents individuals one to two years old, and the rare third year class is composed of specimens over two years old. This growth pattern is similar to modern crocodilians, rather than the rapid growth of modern birds.

 Comparisons between the scleral rings of Pterodactylus antiquus and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been diurnal. This may also indicate niche partitioning with contemporary pterosaurs inferred to be nocturnal, such as Ctenochasma and Rhamphorhynchus.

 Numerous species have been assigned to Pterodactylus in the years since its discovery. In the first half of the nineteenth century any new pterosaur species would be named Pterodactylus, which thus became a typical "waste-basket taxon". Even after clearly different forms had later been given their own generic name, new species would be created from the very productive late Jurassic German sites, often based on only slightly different material.

 Around 1980, subsequent revisions by Peter Wellnhofer had reduced the number of recognized species to about half a dozen. Many species assigned to Pterodactylus had been based on juvenile specimens, and subsequently been recognized as immature individuals of other species or genera. By the 1990s it was understood that this was even true for part of the remaining species. P. elegans, for example, was found by numerous studies to be an immature Ctenochasma. Another species of Pterodactylus based on small, immature specimens is P. micronyx. However, it has been difficult to determine exactly of what genus and species P. micronyx might be the juvenile form. Stéphane Jouve, Christopher Bennett and others suggested that it probably belongs either to Gnathosaurus subulatus or one of the Ctenochasma species, but more data and study would be required to determine which one.

 The only well-known and well-supported species left were P. antiquus and P. kochi. However, most studies since the 1990s have found little reason to separate even these two, and have treated them as synonymous. In 1996, Bennett suggested that the differences between specimens of P. kochi and P. antiquus could be explained by differences in age. In a 2004 paper, Jouve used a different method of analysis and recovered the same result, showing that the "distinctive" features of P. kochi were age-related, and using mathematical comparison to show that the two forms are different growth stages of the same species.

 A special case is P. longicollum, named by von Meyer in 1854, based on a large specimen with a long neck and fewer teeth. Many researchers, including David Unwin, have found P. longicollum to be distinct from P. kochi and P. antiquus. Unwin found P. longicollum to be closer to Germanodactylus and therefore requiring a new genus name. It has sometimes been placed in the genus Diopecephalus because Harry Govier Seeley based this genus partly on the P. longicollum material. However, it was shown by Bennett that the type specimen later designated for Diopecephalus was a fossil belonging to P. kochi, and no longer thought to be separate from Pterodactylus. Diopecephalus is therefore a synonym of Pterodactylus, and as such is unavailable for use as a new genus for "P." longicollum.

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 Gnathosaurus (meaning 'jaw lizard') is a genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur known from a single species, G. subulatus, described in 1833. This pterosaur had an estimated wingspan of about 1.7 meters. The slender, 28-cm-long skull had up to 130 needle-like teeth arranged laterally around the spoon-shaped tip. Fragments of Gnathosaurus jaw were first discovered in 1832 in the Solnhofen limestones of Southern Germany but were mistaken for a piece of teleosaurid crocodile jaw, hence the synonym Crocodylus multidens. Only when a complete skull was found in 1951 this animal was found to have been a pterosaur. The teeth arranged in a spoon shape may have been used to strain water for small animals, although this is conjectural.

 Several paleontologists, such as Christopher Bennett, have suggested that a purported tiny Pterodactylus species, P. micronyx, is likely a juvenile of Gnathosaurus subulatus.

 Ctenochasmatoidea is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. The earliest known ctenochasmatoid remains have been found in the Stonesfield Slate formation (UK), which dates to the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, dated to about 166 million years ago.

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