Concept

Nurhachius

Résumé

Nurhachius is a genus of istiodactylid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian to Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. Its fossil remains date back about 120 million years ago. The genus was named in 2005 by Wang Xiaolin, Alexander Kellner, Zhou Zhonghe and Diogenes de Almeida Campos. The type species is Nurhachius ignaciobritoi. The genus name refers to Nurhaci, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, whose original power base encompassed the region where the fossil was found. The specific name honors the late Brazilian paleontologist Ignácio Aureliano Machado Brito, who pioneered the study of pterosaurs in his country. Nurhachius was first described based on its holotype fossil, IVPP V-13288, a partial skull and skeleton. A second specimen, LPM 00023, was later referred to the species. In 2019, a second species was named: Nurhachius luei. The specific name honors the late Lü Junchang. It is based on the holotype BPMC-0204 from the lower Jiufotang Foramation, a skull with lower jaws and seven neck vertebrae. In 2023, a specimen representing an adult istiodactylid with a 1.6 meter-wingspan was assigned to Nurhachius sp. and described from the Jingangshan Member of the upper part of the Yixian Formation, representing the geologically oldest known record of the genus. The wingspan of Nurhachius was estimated at 2.4 to 2.5 meters (7.87–8.20 ft). In 2008, Witton estimated the wingspan at , and the weight at . In 2019, a single apomorphy, or unique distinguishing trait of the genus as such, was indicated: the front tip of the palate is slightly turned upwards. The skull is elongated with in the holotype a preserved length of and an estimated total length of about . The nasoantorbital fenestra, the large skull opening, is relatively long at 58% of the skull length. The lower jaws have a length of . The skull is similar to that of Istiodactylus, which lived at about the same time in what is now England, especially in the teeth that are compressed side to side and the long fenestra.

Source officielle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurhachius

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