Ikrandraco

Ikrandraco avatar gets its evocative name from none other than the ikrans or the mountain banshees, the dragon-like flying beasts from the blockbuster film Avatar. The reasoning behind this name comes from the animal's uniquely shaped crest, a design which is not often found in many other pterosaurs. This crest is limited to the animal's lower jaw, and it forms a rather half moon-shaped structure. It was probably used as a display feature and might have been quite brightly colored for added effect. The animal also seems to have had a bony extension protruding from its skull, which in life supported a pouch of skin. 

This is also a very novel feature, one that has been hypothesized for a few other pterosaurs like Pterodactylus and Rhamphorhynchus. Altogether it makes for an odd animal with a feeding method that was probably also novel among pterosaurs. Its describers, a team comprising of Alexander Kellner, Xiaoling Wang and colleagues, add that the animal must have been a fish-eater. They also attest that the creature was temporarily skimming its lower jaw across the water. It would have used the lower jaw crest to reduce drag as it hunted, while the skin pouch or flap probably helped to expel any water still in its mouth. The idea of the skimming pterosaur has been cast into doubt recently after it was realized that none of these animals had the specializations of the modern bird, the skimmer. 

While Ikrandraco won't make the idea resurface any time soon, it is an interesting strategy and gives us a look at the diversity of pterosaurs in Early Cretaceous China. The animal hails from the highly prolific Jiufotang Formation, roughly 120 million years old.