Cathayopterus grabaui is a pterosaurian belonging to the Pterodactyloidea that lived in the present China during the early chalk.
The species was named and described in 2006 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhonge. The gender name is derived from Kathay, the medieval Western name for China and a gelatinized classical Greek pteron, "wing". The type designation honors American geologist Amadeus William Grabau, who first charted North China geology for the first time. The name was first described in a slightly earlier publication of Wang and therefore, in the West, was a nomenclature for several years until one became aware of the other publication, an article in a book; Therefore, information about the species is still scarce.
The Cathayopterus Holotype, IVPP V13756, is found in the Dawangzhangzia settlement of the middle Yixian formation in Liaoning at the village of Fanzhangzi. It consists of a skull with lower jaws.
The upper and lower jaws are very elongated and have a wide range of long teeth at their widened ends. The muzzle length is more than half the skull length. All teeth are located before the fenestral nasoantorbitalis. The teeth are slim and smaller to the rear. Furthermore, they do not change proportionately.
Wang placed the species in the Ctenochasmatidae; This was confirmed by a clasic analysis of Lü Junchang in 2007. Wang said that the species had a way of life as a water-borne infiltrator. Literature
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