Guidraco

Guidraco; Temporal range: Early Cretaceous PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	A model of Guidraco venator
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Pterosauria
Suborder:	†Pterodactyloidea
Family:	†Boreopteridae
Genus:	†Guidraco
Type species
	†Guidraco venator; Wang, 2012

Guidraco is an extinct genus of toothed pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of northeast China. The type and only species is Guidraco venator.

Discovery[]

The holotype (IVPP V17083) It was collected at Sihedang near Lingyuan City in the Liaoning Province from the Jiufotang Formation, dating to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous, about 120 million years ago.

Etymology[]

Guidraco was first described and named by Wang Xiaolin, Alexander W.A. Kellner, Jiang Shunxing and Cheng Xin in 2012 and the type species is Guidraco venator. The generic name is derived from the Chinese gui, meaning "malicious ghost", and from draco, meaning "dragon". The specific name means "hunter" in Latin.

Description[]

It is from an articulated partial skeleton consisting of a nearly complete skull, lower jaws and a series of four, second to fifth, cervical vertebrae. The skull has a length of 38 centimeters (15 in). Its teeth is also unique, such as the twenty-three teeth of the upper jaw, the first is long and very narrow. The front teeth is designed to catch slippery prey, such as fish. The snout lacks a crest.

Classification[]

Guidraco was by the describers assigned to the Pteranodontoidea by Kellner. A phylogenetic analysis found it to be the sister taxon of the Brazilian Ludodactylus,

In popular culture[]

A Guidraco appeared in The Good Dinosaur, under the name of Windgust.