Kunpengopterus and Archaeoistiodactylus

Kunpengopterus sinensis IVPP V16047 (Wang et al 2010, Middle to Late Jurassic border) was derived from a sister to Pterorhynchus and phylogenetically preceded Darwinopterus and Wukongopterus.

Distinct from Pterorhynchus, the skull of Kunpengopterus was lower and had no distinct naris. The teeth were smaller.

The cervicals were longer. The dorsals were shorter.

The sternal complex was pentagonal. The coracoid was more slender and curved. The radius and ulna were relatively shorter. The metacarpus was slightly longer. The wing finger was shorter, extending only to the base of the skull when folded.

The anterior process of the ilium was longer. The ischium was expanded posteriorly. The femur was longer and more robust. The metatarsals spread. Pedal digit 3 was longer. Unguals 2-4 weremore gracile and not aligned. Pedal digit 5 was shorter.

The disappearance of the naris used to be considered a trait restricted to "pterodactyloid"-grade pterosaurs. This led to some confusion in this clade because Kunpengopterus, Darwinopterus and Wukongopterus did not have the other traits considered common to "pterodactyloid"-grade pterosaurs: a long metacarpus, a short tail and an elongated pedal digit 5.

Kunpengopterus antipollicatus (Zhou et al. 2021) was originally described as a rare pterosaur with an opposed thumb. That is a false claim based on taphonomic rotation during crushing they did not understand. The two feet are not identical. The authors thought the back of the skull was missing, but it is complete and present.

Archaeoistiodactylus linglongtaensis (Lü and Fucha 2010) was originally considered related to the istiodactylids and regarded as an ancestor. Martill and Etches (2012) suggest it might be a poorly preserved specimen of Darwinopterus. Here it is a sister to Kunpgengopterus.

Wang X, Kellner AWA, Jiang S-X, Cheng X, Meng Xi & Rodrigues T 2010. New long-tailed pterosaurs (Wukongopteridae) from western Liaoning, China. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 82 (4): 1045–1062.

Lü J-C and Fucha X-H 2010. A new pterosaur (Pterosauria) from Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning, China. Global Geology 13 (3/4): 113–118. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-9736.2010.03/04.01.

Martill DM and Etches E 2012. A new monofenestratan pterosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, Kimmeridgian) of Dorset, England. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. in press. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0071.

Zhou X et al. (11 co-authors) 2021. A new darwinopteran pterosaur reveals arborealism and an opposed thumb. Current Biology (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016

wiki/Kunpengopterus
wiki/Archaeoistiodactylus

Wukongopteridae

Kunpengopterus

pterosaur family tree

origin of pterosaurs

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