The Wukongopteridae are a group of basal pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...

s, found exclusively in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It contained in 2010 five species in four genera, all collected from the Tiaojishan Formation

Tiaojishan Formation

The Tiaojishan Formation is a geological formation in Hebei and Liaoning, People's Republic of China, dating to the middle-late Jurassic period . It is known for its fossil plants, and is made up mainly of pyroclastic rock interspersed with basic volcanic and sedimentary rocks...

 and/or Daohugou Beds

Daohugou Beds

The Daohugou Beds are a series of fossil-bearing rock deposits located in northeastern China, with the type locality around Daohugou village of Ningcheng County south of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, but extending into southwest Liaoning. The rocks are grey, finely bedded, lacustrine, sandy mudstones...

, which may date to the middle Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 period, though other studies have given a date of late Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

, and a few give an early Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 date.

The Wukongopteridae were first named by Wang et al. in 2009, not yet giving an exact definition. The clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 Wukongopteridae was first defined by Wang et al. in 2010 as "the most recent common ancestor

Most recent common ancestor

In genetics, the most recent common ancestor of any set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all organisms in the group are directly descended...

 of Wukongopterus lii and Kunpengopterus sinensis, and all of its descendants". According to Wang et al. (2010) Wukongopterus lii, Darwinopterus

Darwinopterus

Darwinopterus is a genus of pterosaur, discovered in China and named after biologist Charles Darwin. Between 30 and 40 fossil specimens have been identified, all collected from the Tiaojishan Formation, which dates to the middle Jurassic period. The type species, D. modularis, was described in...

 modularis,
Darwinopterus linglongtaensis, Kunpengopterus sinensis and Changchengopterus

Changchengopterus

Changchengopterus is a genus of non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from China . The fossil specimen of the type and only species, Changchengopterus pani, was found in the Tiaojishan Formation and described by Lü in 2009...

 pani are wukongopterids.

Description

Wukongopterids are characterized by a unique combination of "primitive" and advanced pterosaurian features. While they had long tails and other features characteristic of other "rhamphorhynchoids", they also had distinct pterodactyloid features, such as long vertebrae in the neck and a single skull opening in front of the eyes, the nasoantorbital fenestra (in most "rhamphorhynchoids", the antorbital fenestra and the nasal opening are separate). This feature lead to Darwinopterus modularis being placed by Lü e.a. in a new clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 of pterosaurs, the Monofenestrata

Monofenestrata

Monofenestrata is an unranked group of pterosaurs that includes the family Wukongopteridae and the superfamily Pterodactyloidea....

, or "with a single opening", forming this group together with the true Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea

Pterodactyloidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs , and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles...

, to the exclusion of the Rhamphorhynchidae

Rhamphorhynchidae

Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs named after Rhamphorhynchus, that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.-Classification:...

and other more primitive pterosaurs which had separate nasal and antorbital fenestrae. However, according to Wang e.a. it is equally possible that the Wukongopteridae formed a more basal group, below the Rhamphorhynchidae.