Lingyuanopterus is a genus of istiodactylid pterosaur from the Aptian age Jiufotang Formation in western Liaoning, China. The type and only species is L. camposi, known from the holotype specimen IVPP V 17940 a near complete skull, mandible and atlas-axis complex.[1]
Lingyuanopterus was named and described in 2022 by Xu et al., (2022). The type species is L. camposi. The generic name is derived from the locality in which the holotype specimen was found 'Lingyuan' (pronounced as /lɪŋüen/) and the Latinized Greek noun 'pterus' (pronounced as /ptərʌs/), meaning 'wing'. The specific name 'camposi' (pronounced as /cɑːmpɔːsaɪ/) honours Brazilian vertebrate paleontologist Diogenes de Almeida Campos for his contribution to China-Brazil pterosaur collaborative research.
| Metric | Imperial | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Skull length | ≈306.8 mm | ≈12.08 in | |
| Mandible length | ≈248.6 mm | ≈9.79 in | |
| Prejoint-skull length | ≈236.9 mm | ≈9.33 in | |
| Skull dorsoventral height | ≈51.1 mm | ≈2.01 in | |
| Mandibular symphysis length | ≈64.8 mm | ≈2.55 in | |
| Rostral length | ≈83.5 mm | ≈3.29 in | |
| Nasoantorbital fenestra anteroposterior length | ≈149.3 mm | ≈5.88 in | |
| Nasoantorbital fenestra dorsoventral height | ≈35.6 mm | ≈1.40 in | |
| Upper tooth row length | ≈83.8 mm | ≈3.30 in | |
| Lower tooth row length | ≈71.9 mm | ≈2.83 in |
In Xu et al., (2022) Lingyuanopterus is recovered as an istiodactylid pterosaur.
Cladogram after Xu et al., (2022):
Xu et al., (2022) suggest that Lingyuanopterus was adapted for scavenging, citing several features including the well-interlocked labiolingually compressed teeth, slender maxillae, shallow rostra and mandibular symphyses and long retroarticular processes.