A Baby Pterodactyloid Pterosaur from the Yixian Formation of Ningcheng,Inner Mongolia,China

A new baby pterodactyloid pterosaur with soft tissue preserved,Ningchengopterus liuae gen. et sp.nov.,is erected based on a nearly complete skeleton with a skull.It was characterized by the skull, slightly longer than the combined length of the dorsal and sacral vertebrae;50 teeth (including upper and lower jaws);short mid-cervical vertebrae;the humerus and the scapula,equal to that of the wing metacarpal in length;the ulna and the femur,equal to that of the first and third wing phalanx in length, respectively.The similar ratio of the wing phalanx 2 to wing phalanx 1 of Ningchengopterus and Eosipterus implies that Ningchengopterus may be close to the ctenochasmatid pterosaur.However,it may also imply that the isometrically growing of the first two wing phalanges exists among some pterosaurs.