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Eopterosauria

clade of reptiles (fossil)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 29, 2025
Entity authorityQ18061161
Source-derived summary

Eopterosauria is a proposed clade of basal pterosaurs from the Triassic. The term was first used in Andres et al. (2014) to include Preondactylus, Austriadactylus, Peteinosaurus and Eudimorphodontidae. Inside the group were two other new clades, Preondactylia, which included Preondactylus and Austriadactylus, and Eudimorphodontoidea, to include Eudimorphodontidae and Raeticodactylidae. Eopterosauria was defined as "the least inclusive clade containing Preondactylus buffarinii and Eudimorphodon ranzii". The specimen BSP 1994, previously assigned to Eudimorphodon, was named the separate taxon Austriadraco in 2015, and assigned to the new family Austriadraconidae, but further classification was not described. The following phylogenetic analysis follows the topology of Andres et al. (2014).

In a 2020 study of early pterosaur interrelationships carried out by Matthew G. Baron concluded that Eopterosauria and Eudimorphodontidae are not monophyletic groups, and instead he created the family Caviramidae to contain most of the prior eudimorphodontids and basal eopterosaurians while Eudimorphodon and Peteinosaurus belonged to a clade named Zambellisauria alongside more advanced pterosaurs. Additionally, Baron included the clade Austriadraconidae as a subgroup within the Caviramidae to include three genera: Arcticodactylus, Austriadraco, and Seazzadactylus.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Eopterosauria” as clade of reptiles (fossil). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Eopterosauria, clade and reptiles.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2014, 1994, 2015, 2020—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Eopterosauria, clade and reptiles providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Eopterosauria”, the useful work is to connect “clade of reptiles (fossil)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 29, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q18061161. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014, 1994, 2015 and 2020.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Eopterosauria primary sources, Eopterosauria archive and Eopterosauria research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Eopterosauria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.