Just a quick post on this little guy. Normally I'm not blogging as new taxa, like many others to cover them, and usually not much can be told from an outside perspective that is not in the paper. I have not much to add here, in this sense either, but it's good for me to see as I saw it hit the specimen at the office about Dino Frey on several occasions in recent years, while describing said "soon". Well, now you're off and Aurorazhdarcho born.
The sample is of course in excellent condition (photos above and below raised Frey et al., 2011) on the head and neck has disappeared. However, an impression remains in the sediments to show where they were originally and got an impression of their original size and shape, which is quite nice.
The most interesting thing is to identify it as a member of azhdarchoids. Most derivatives are groups of pterosaurs otherwise only known from the Cretaceous, Jurassic origin but can be expected if (and for some it is a big if) you agree that is a Germanodactylus dsungariptid and that this clade is the sister-taxon azhdarchoids. Certainly, some features that are unique to this group (the hind huge to begin with), and this identification seems good (although I must admit I have not read the document in detail), but as always with a test as is the lack of a major real shame.
Frey, E., Meyer, AC & Tischlinger, H. 2011. The oldest pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone azhdarchoid (Early Tithonian) in southern Germany. Swiss Journal of Geosciences in press.
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