Lonchognathosaurus Lonchognathosaurus Lonchognathosaurus was a genus of dsungaripterid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Lianmuqin Formation of Xinjiang, China. The genus was named in 2004 by Michael Maisch, Andreas Matzke and Sun Ge. The type species is "Lonchognathosaurus acutirostris". The genus name is derived from Greek "lonchos", "lance", "gnathos", "jaw" and "sauros", "lizard", in reference to the fact that it is a reptile with pointed jaws. The specific name means "needle snout" in Latin. "Lonchognathosaurus" is based on holotype SGP 2001/19, found near Urumqi in the southern Junggar Basin, the front portion of a skull and lower jaws that came
South Polar region of the Cretaceous notably the rhomaleosaurids and "Leptocleidus", which died out in the Early Cretaceous, indicating the polar freshwater systems may have been a refuge for the pliosaurs of the Cretaceous. In contrast to modern marine reptiles, these South Polar plesiosaurs probably had a better tolerance of colder waters. Early to Middle Cretaceous marine reptile remains of South Australia include five families of plesiosaurs–Cryptoclididae, Elasmosauridae, Polycotylidae, Rhomaleosauridae, and Pliosauridae–and the ichthyosaur family Ophthalmosauridae. The discovery of several juvenile plesiosaur remains suggest they used the nutrient-rich waters of the coast as sheltered calving grounds, the cold deterring predators such as sharks. Most of the