Abstract

Dsungaripterids are a clade of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous. Highly unusual, their affinities have proven problematic as some studies favour them as derived members of Germanodactylidae while others recover them as azhdarchoids, either at the base of the clade or nested deeper alongside Thalassodromidae. Here, following examples of recent re-evaluations of phylogenetic signals, I examine each individual character understood as evidence towards either result of dsungaripteroid phylogenetic placement. The overall results seem to lean towards an interpretation as derived germanodactylids, but several similarities with juvenile tapejarids may provide a scenario for azhdarchoid dsungaripterids.