title: New Material of the Pterosaur Gladocephaloideus Lü et al., 2012 from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China, with Comments on Its Systematic Position.
abstract: Although there are nine genera of ctenochasmatoids reported from the Jehol Biota, at present each is known from a specimen that has either a skull or a relatively complete postcranial skeleton. A nearly complete juvenile specimen of Gladocephaloideus from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Sihedang, Lingyuan of Liaoning Province is the most complete ctenochasmatoid preserved to date with a skull and postcranial skeleton. Based on the holotype (IG-CAGS 08-07) and the nearly complete new specimen (JPM 2014-004), the diagnosis of Gladocephaloideus is amended: approximately 50 teeth in total with sharp tips; small nasoantorbital opening, occupying approximately 13% of total skull length; ratio of prenarial rostrum length to skull length approximately 0.63; deep groove along the mid-line of the mandibular symphysis; length to width ratio of the longest cervical vertebra = 4.1; ratio of femur length to tibia length = 0.61; tibia as long as the wing-phalange 1. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gladocephaloideus within the clade Ctenochasmatidae. Gladocephaloideus has a closer relationship to the Chinese Pterofiltrus rather than to other ctenochasmatid pterosaurs. Microstructure of limb bones implies that JPM 2014-004 represents an early juvenile of Gladocephaloideus jingangshanensis, and that the type specimen is not a fully grown specimen either. We assume that the holotype may equate to the late juvenile or sub-adult developmental stage of Gladocephaloideus.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Junchang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.|Center for Interdisciplinary Biosciences, Faculty of Science, University of P. J. Safarik, Košice, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kundrát
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Caizhi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000145:classification; D010802:Phylogeny