Aralazhdarcho

Aralazhdarcho is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Santonian-early Campanian Late Cretaceous Bostobe Svita of Kazakhstan.

The genus was named in 2007 by Alexander Averianov. Already in 2004 the holotype had been described.[1] The type species is Aralazhdarcho bostobensis. The genus name is derived from the Aral Sea and the related genus Azhdarcho. The specific name refers to the Bostobe Formation.

The genus is based on holotype ZIN PH, no. 9/43, consisting of the anterior end of a neck vertebra, probably the fifth or sixth.[2] Several paratypes have also been referred: a jugal, a toothless lower jaw fragment, centra from vertebrae, the distal end of a scapula, the proximal end of a second phalanx of the left wing finger and the proximal end of a left femur, of which however the head has broken off. The remains were found at the Shakh-Shakh locality.

Aralazhdarcho was by Averianov assigned to the Azhdarchidae, in view of its lack of teeth and geological age. Averianov presumed it presented a more southern form as opposed to the contemporary related genus Bogolubovia that was found in adjoining more northern regions.