A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 483:The 59–80 paleoenvironments (2015) of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous... 59 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.483.9058 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan Alexander Averianov1,2, Gareth Dyke3,4, Igor Danilov5, Pavel Skutschas6 1 Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia 2 Department of Sedimentary Geology, Geological Faculty, Saint Petersburg State University, 16 liniya VO 29, 199178 Saint Petersburg, Russia 3 Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Sou- thampton, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK 4 MTA-DE Lendület Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Hungary 5 Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universi- tetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia 6 Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Biological Faculty, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia Corresponding author: Alexander Averianov (
[email protected]) Academic editor: Hans-Dieter Sues | Received 3 December 2014 | Accepted 30 January 2015 | Published 20 February 2015 http://zoobank.org/C4AC8D70-1BC3-4928-8ABA-DD6B51DABA29 Citation: Averianov A, Dyke G, Danilov I, Skutschas P (2015) The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan. ZooKeys 483: 59–80. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.483.9058 Abstract Five pterosaur localities are currently known from the Late Cretaceous in the northeastern Aral Sea region of Kazakhstan. Of these, one is Turonian-Coniacian in age, the Zhirkindek Formation (Tyulkili), and four are Santonian in age, all from the early Campanian Bostobe Formation (Baibishe, Akkurgan, Buroinak, and Shakh Shakh).