Archovember 2025 Day 26
Pterosaur Hamipterus tianshanensis, of Early Cretaceous, China!
Our final pterosaur of this year’s Archovember is the impressive pteranodontoid, Hamipterus tianshanensis, from Early Cretaceous China. Hamipterus is known from dozens of fossils in a bonebed, some with well-preserved soft tissues and some associated with leathery eggs, representing a nesting colony that seems to have been buried by a tragic mudslide. While a travesty for the colony, the Early Cretaceous devastation allowed us a rare peak into the life of these strange animals. Since we have fossils of Hamipterus from egg to adult, we can observe how they grew and changed over the course of their lives. As they grew their snout tips would become relatively wider, the crest on their snout would become more robust and expand its base towards the front, the grooves and ridges on the crest would become more prominent, the snout tip would straighten, and their dentary groove would deepen and lengthen. Both females and males are assumed to have crests, with size being the distinguishing feature between the sexes, as large adult specimens and small adult specimens, both bearing crests, are present. Scans of unhatched Hamipterus eggs show that flaplings would have had well developed thigh bones, and would have been able to walk upon hatching, but had weak chests, so may have needed time before learning to fly. Hamipterus could have practiced parental care, and likely nested in large colonies to keep their young safe during this vulnerable time.
Due to the nature of its discovery, Hamipterus tianshanensis is the most well-known paleofauna discovered in the Shengjinkou Formation. It would have lived alongside other pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Dsungaripterus and Noripterus, sauropods like Hamititan and Silutitan, and indeterminate theropods. Few other fossils are known from this formation, most of them indeterminate pterosaur and dinosaur footprints.
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