Aralazhdarcho (named for the city of Aral, and its resemblance to the related genus Azhdarcho) is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Santonian-early Campanian Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan. It is known from fragments of neck vertebrae.[1]
The genus is based on holotype ZIN PH, no. 9/43, consisting of the anterior end of a neck vertebra, probably the fifth or sixth.[2] Several paratypes have also been referred: a jugal, a toothless lower jaw fragment, centra from vertebrae, the distal end of a scapula, the proximal end of a second phalanx of the left wing finger and the proximal end of a left femur, of which however the head has broken off. The remains were found at the Shakh-Shakh locality.
Aralazhdarcho was by Averianov assigned to the Azhdarchidae, in view of its lack of teeth and geological age. Averianov presumed it presented a more southern form as opposed to the contemporary related genus Bogolubovia that was found in adjoining more northern regions
Discovery[]
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References[]
- ^ Averianov, A.O. 2007. New records of azhdarchids (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. Paleontological Journal. Volume 41. Issue 2. Pages 189–197