| Huaxiadraco
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 120 Ma
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| Holotype specimen | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Family: | †Tapejaridae |
| Subfamily: | †Sinopterinae |
| Genus: | †Huaxiadraco Pêgas et al., 2023 |
| Type species | |
| †Huaxiapterus corollatus Lü et al., 2006 | |
| Synonyms | |
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Huaxiadraco (meaning "Hua Xia [China] dragon") is a genusoftapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang FormationofChaoyang, Liaoning, China. It is the third valid genus of tapejarid from the Jehol Biota, after Sinopterus and Eopteranodon. It contains one species, Huaxiadraco corollatus, originally assigned to the defunct genus Huaxiapterus.[1]
Huaxiadraco is based on the holotype ZMNH M8131, a nearly complete skeleton. It was originally assigned to the genus HuaxiapterusbyLü Junchang and colleagues in 2006, under the binomial name Huaxiapterus corollatus.[2] Lü et al. also named another species, Huaxiapterus benxiensis, a year later.[3] However, analyses have since found that these species are only distantly related to Huaxiapterus jii,[4] the type speciesofHuaxiapterus, and thus require a new genus name.[5] A 2023 review of Chinese tapejarids by Pêgas et al. have confirmed these analyses, finding most of them (including Huaxipterus jii) to belong to the coeval Sinopterus dongi, although corollatus was found to belong to a distinct genus. They thus created Huaxiadraco for corollatus, synonymized benxiensis with it, and referred specimens D2525 (previously considered Sinopterus), BMPC 103, 104, and 105 to it.[1]
The cladogram below follows the 2014 analysis by Brian Andres and colleagues, showing the placement of the three species assigned to Huaxiapterus. within the clade Tapejaromorpha.[4]
| Tapejaromorpha |
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In 2019, a different analysis, this time by Alexander Kellner and colleagues, had recovered the "Huaxiapterus" benxiensis and "Huaxiapterus" corollatus in a more derived position within the Tapejarinae, sister taxon to both Eopteranodon and Sinopterus.[6] The cladogram of their analysis is shown below:
| Tapejaromorpha |
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In 2023, Pêgas et al. created a new dataset based on their reassessment of Chinese tapejarids. Their cladogram is shown below:[1]
China
