Volgadraco

Volgadraco ("Volga River dragon") is a genus of pteranodontian pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of European Russia.

Volgadraco Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Campanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Pterosauria
Suborder:	†Pterodactyloidea
Clade:	†Pteranodontoidea
Clade:	†Pteranodontia
Genus:	†Volgadraco Averianov et al., 2008
Type species
†Volgadraco bogolubovi Averianov et al., 2008

Discovery and naming

Volgadraco is known from lower beak (holotype SGU, no. 46/104a) and postcranial fragments from the early Campanian-age Rybushka Formation of Saratov, Russia. The size of this animal, and the development of blood supply in the lower jaw are intermediate between older Santonian or Turonian azhdarchids like Azhdarcho and Bakonydraco and later Maastrichtian azhdarchids like Quetzalcoatlus. Volgadraco was described in 2008 by Averianov, Arkhangelsky, and Pervushov. The type species is V. bogolubovi, the specific name honouring Russian paleontologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolubov.^[1]

Classification

Averianov and colleagues initially assigned Volgadraco to the family Azhdarchidae, and considered the earlier named genus Bogolubovia to be a nomen dubium that is potentially identical to Volgadraco.^[1] In contrast, Longrich and colleagues in 2018 had recovered it within the family Nyctosauridae, the cladogram of which can be seen below:^[2]

Pteranodontoidea	Ornithocheiromorpha Pteranodontia Pteranodontidae Pteranodon sternbergi Pteranodon longiceps Tethydraco regalis Nyctosauridae Alamodactylus byrdi Volgadraco bogolubovi Cretornis hlavaci Alcione elainus Simurghia robusta Muzquizopteryx coahuilensis Barbaridactylus grandis Nyctosaurus lamegoi Nyctosaurus nanus Nyctosaurus gracilis

In 2020, Averianov and Arkhangelsky reconsidered both Bogolubovia and Volgadraco as members of the family Pteranodontidae.^[3] In 2022, Averianov and Kurin considered both Volgadraco and Bogolubovia as valid pteranodontids based on a new specimen of Bogolubovia.^[4] In the same year, however, Volgadraco was considered to be a pteranodontian both outside the Nyctosauridae and Pteranodontidae based on phylogenetic analysis, the cladogram of which can be seen below:^[5]

Pteranodontia	Tethydraco Pteranodon longiceps Pteranodon sternbergi (Geosternbergia) Alamodactylus Volgadraco Cretornis Aponyctosauria Epapatelo Simurghia Alcione Nyctosauridae Muzquizopteryx Nyctosaurus lamegoi Nyctosaurus grandis (Barbaridactylus) Nyctosaurus nanus Nyctosaurus gracilis

See also

• Timeline of pterosaur research
• List of pterosaurs