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.