Aralazhdarcho

Aralazhdarcho is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Santonian to the early Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous period of Bostobe Svita in Kazakhstan. The type and only known species is Aralazhdarcho bostobensis.

Aralazhdarcho Temporal range: Santonian–Campanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fragment of a left humerus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Pterosauria
Suborder:	†Pterodactyloidea
Family:	†Azhdarchidae
Genus:	†Aralazhdarcho Averianov, 2007
Species:	†A. bostobensis
Binomial name
†Aralazhdarcho bostobensis Averianov, 2007
Synonyms[1]
Samrukia? Naish et al., 2012

Etymology

Aralazhdarcho was named in 2007 by Alexander Averianov. In 2004, the holotype had already been described.^[2] The genus name, Aralazhdarcho, is derived from the Aral Sea and the related genus Azhdarcho, while the specific name, bostobensis, refers to the Bostobe Formation.^[3]

Description

Aralazhdarcho is based on holotype ZIN PH, no. 9/43, consisting of the anterior end of a neck vertebra, probably the fifth or sixth. 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.^[3] Samrukia nessovi, described separately from a partial lower jaw from the same formation, is possibly a junior synonym of Aralazhdarcho.^[4]

Classification

Averianov, the describer, assigned Aralazhdarcho to the family 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.^[3] The cladogram below shows a phylogenetic analysis recovered by Nicholas Longrich and colleagues in 2018. They found Aralazhdarcho as the sister taxon of Phosphatodraco, both within the Azhdarchidae.^[5]

Azhdarchidae	Montanazhdarcho Azhdarcho Phosphatodraco Aralazhdarcho Eurazhdarcho aff. Quetzalcoatlus Zhejiangopterus Arambourgiania Hatzegopteryx Quetzalcoatlus

See also

• Timeline of pterosaur research
• List of pterosaurs

References

1. Averianov, Alexander; Dyke, Gareth; Danilov, Igor; Skutschas, Pavel (2015-02-20). "The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan". ZooKeys (483): 59–80. Bibcode:2015ZooK..483...59A. doi:10.3897/zookeys.483.9058. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 4351447. PMID 25755624.
2. Averianov, A.O. (2004). "New Data on Cretaceous Flying Reptiles (Pterosauria) of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan". Paleontol. Zh. (4): 73–83. (Paleontol. J. 38 (4), 426–436)
3. Averianov, A.O. (2007). "New records of azhdarchids (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the late Cretaceous of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia" (PDF). Paleontological Journal. 41 (2): 189–197. Bibcode:2007PalJ...41..189A. doi:10.1134/S0031030107020098. S2CID 128637719.
4. Averianov, Alexander; Dyke, Gareth; Danilov, Igor; Skutschas, Pavel (2015-02-20). "The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan". ZooKeys (483): 59–80. Bibcode:2015ZooK..483...59A. doi:10.3897/zookeys.483.9058. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 4351447. PMID 25755624.
5. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Martill, David M.; Andres, Brian; Penny, David (2018). "Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary". PLOS Biology. 16 (3): e2001663. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663. PMC 5849296. PMID 29534059.