Discovery of a New Pterosaur in Western Liaoning, China

The pterosaur from the Yixian Formation in Beipiao, Liaoning Province, is characterized by the medium–sized individual, short tail, presence of the gastralia, strong forelimbs, radius and ulna longer than wing–metacarpal, extremely narrow and elongate metatarsals, degenerated and small phalanx V of hindlimb and so on. It must be a new genus and species, Eosipterus yangi gen. et sp. nov., in the early groups of the Suborder Pterodactyloidea. This is the first record of pterosaurs found in Liaoning Province. The fossil provides new evidence for further determining the nature and geological time of the Jehol Fauna and for studying the palaeogeography and palaeoenvironment.