Sericipterus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of rhamphorhynchid

Rhamphorhynchidae

Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs named after Rhamphorhynchus, that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.-Classification:...

 pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

. It is known from the Late Jurassic

Late Jurassic

The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.2 ± 4.0 to 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago , which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age...

 (early Oxfordian age) Shishugou Formation

Shishugou Formation

The Shishugou Formation is a geological formation in Xinjiang, China, whose strata date back to the Late Jurassic period. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation....

 in Xinjiang

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

The genus was named and described in 2010 by Brian Andres, James Matthew Clark and Xu Xing. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Sericipterus wucaiwanensis. The generic name is derived from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 sericum, "silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

", a reference to the Silk Route, and from a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name refers to the Wucaiwan area, itself meaning "five-colour bay" because of the many-coloured layers.

The holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 specimen, IVPP V14725, consists of partly crushed, disarticulated bones that are largely preserved three-dimensionally. The wingspan has been estimated at at least 1.73 metres. The skull of Sericipterus is similar to those of the "rhamphorhynchoid

Rhamphorhynchoidea

The Rhamphorhynchoidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs and represent an evolutionary grade of primitive members of this group of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic in relation to the Pterodactyloidea, which arose from within the Rhamphorhynchoidea, not from a more distant...

s" (i.e. basal pterosaurs) Angustinaripterus

Angustinaripterus

Angustinaripterus was a basal pterosaur, belonging to the Breviquartossa, and discovered at Dashanpu near Zigong in the Szechuan province of China.Angustinaripterus was named in 1983 by He Xinlu....

and Harpactognathus

Harpactognathus

Harpactognathus was a genus of pterosaur found in the Late Jurassic-age Morrison Formation of Albany County, Wyoming, USA. It is based on NAMAL 101, a partial skull consisting of the snout, recovered from near Bone Cabin Quarry in 1996...

. It had three bony crests: a low crest on the snout, a short low parietal crest on top of the skull and a short traverse crest connected to the front edge of the latter. The parietal crest is the first reported for a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur. The same is true for the rosette, bearing two pairs of forward pointing laniaries, formed by a narrowing of the snout behind these long fangs. Another probably five pairs of teeth were present in a more posterior position in the upper jaws. The number in the lower jaw is unknown. Except for the first rather straight pair, the teeth were recurved, sharply pointed, covered with smooth enamel and circular in cross-section but equipped with two keels providing cutting edges.

Sericipterus has, after a comprehensive new cladistic analysis of the Pterosauria, been placed as the sister taxon of Angustinaripterus

Angustinaripterus

Angustinaripterus was a basal pterosaur, belonging to the Breviquartossa, and discovered at Dashanpu near Zigong in the Szechuan province of China.Angustinaripterus was named in 1983 by He Xinlu....

in the Rhamphorhynchinae, a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

which also includes other large-bodied "rhamphorhynchoids", living inland as predators of small tetrapods and preserved in terrestrial sediments.