Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Family: Boreopteridae
Genus: Feilongus

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Feilongus is a genus which has disappeared and it is known to have belonged to the ornithocheiroid pterodactyloid pterosaur family or ctenochasmatoid family. It is known to have lived in the Barremian-Aptian-age or lower cretaceous period in the country of China. In China , it was known to have existed in the Yixian Formation of Beipiao, situated at Liaoning . This creature got this name in the year 2005 and it was named by Wang Xiaolin. The fossil of Feilongus was found along with another pterosaur named Nurhachius ignaciobritoi. The biological name of this species is Feilongus Youngi. The first term Feilongus was derived from the word ‘Feilong', the meaning of, which is flying dragon. The second term Youngi was given to this species in honor of Paleontologist Yang Zhongjian.

Feilongus is classified under the order pterosauria and further classified into suborder pterodactyloidea and it is known to have belonged to the family or omithocheiroidea or ctenochasmatoidea.

The articulated mandible and skull of a sub adult individual belonging to the group of Feilongus was found with a detached posterior braincase. But, the found fossil was strongly crushed. From the fossil it was found that Feilongus would have got two bony crests on its skull, one of which would have been projecting backwards from the back portion of the skull and the other would have been located at the middle and lower part of the snout. It was also found that the upper part of the jaw of Feilongus would have been 10% longer than the lower part of its jaw. The preserved part of the second crest would have had a leading edge and it would have been short and it might have got a non-bony extension.

The skull was around 15.4-15.7 inches or 390-400mm long and it was stretched out with a slight concave top. The wingspan was assumed to have been around 7.9 feet (i.e.) 2.4 meters long. From the skull it was found that Feilongus would have got a curved needle like teeth with nineteen teeth in the lower jaw and eighteen teeth in the upper jaw.

According to researchers, Feilongus would have been a member of the Gallodactylidae, which were ctenochasmatoids and it is regarded as the sister of taxon. Some researchers argue that it was a member of the family of Archaeopterodactyloidea. But, according to an analysis made by Lu Junchang in the year 2006, it was not an Archaeopterodactyloid and it was a member of ornithocheiroidea family. According to a new publication, Feilongus was put in the family of ornithocheiroid.

When the specimen of Feilongus was initially found in China , the researchers suggested that it was the specimen of a spices belonging to the family of pterosaurs and they were neither dinosaurs not birds. So, they decided it to be flying reptiles that ornamented the skies several million years ago. They also came to a conclusion that they would have ranged in different sizes from that of a sparrow to that of a small aircraft. But, only after that they identified the different characteristics of feilongus.