| Cascocauda | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Family: | †Anurognathidae |
| Subfamily: | †Batrachognathinae |
| Genus: | †Cascocauda Yang et al., 2022 |
| Species: | †C. rong
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Cascocauda rong Yang et al., 2022
| |
Cascocauda (meaning "ancient tail") is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur from the Late–Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Hebei Province, China. The genus contains a single species, C. rong, known from a complete skeleton belonging to a juvenile individual preserved with extensive soft-tissues, including wing membranes and a dense covering of pycnofibres.[1] Some of these pycnofibres appear to be branched, resembling the feathers of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, and suggesting that pterosaur pycnofibres may be closely related to feathers in dinosaurs.[2]
- ^ Yang, Zixiao; Benton, Michael J.; Hone, David W. E.; Xu, Xing; McNamara, Maria E.; Jiang, Baoyu (2022-03-03). "Allometric analysis sheds light on the systematics and ontogeny of anurognathid pterosaurs" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e2028796. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2028796. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 247262846.
- ^ Zixiao Yang; Baoyu Jiang; Maria E. McNamara; Stuart L. Kearns; Michael Pittman; Thomas G. Kaye; Patrick J. Orr; Xing Xu; Michael J. Benton (2019). "Pterosaur integumentary structures with complex feather-like branching". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (1): 24–30. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0728-7. hdl:1983/1f7893a1-924d-4cb3-a4bf-c4b1592356e9. PMID 30568282. S2CID 56480710.