Pterofiltrus – Just Another Cycnorhamphid, Not a Ctenochasmatid

A New Pterosaur from China!
Pterofiltrus qiui (Jiang and Wang 2011) IVPP V12339 was originally considered a ctenochasmatid pterosaur, but here it nests as a cycnorhamphid. Only the skull is known and it was crushed and disarticulated. Reconstructed (Figure 1) the skull is a virtual duplicate of Cycnorhamphus. The original reconstruction (visible here) was a rehash of the Gegepterus reconstruction. It did not match the fossil and introduced a much too long rostrum. Pterofiltrus lived slightly later (in the Early Cretaceous) than Cycnorhamphus (in the Late Jurassic) and was slightly larger with more teeth.

Pterofiltrus and Cycnorhamphus. Both to scale.

Figure 1. Top: Pterofiltrus. Bottom: Cycnorhamphus. Both to scale.

References
Jiang S-X and Wang X-L 2011. A new ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous, western Liaoning, China. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 83(4):1243-1249. online pdf

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