Liaoxipterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Barremian-Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Chaoyang, Liaoning, China.
The genus is based on holotype CAR-0018, an almost complete but crushed 161 millimetres long mandible (fused lower jaws), which differs from that of all known other ctenochasmatids in its short teeth and low tooth count (eleven per side).
[4] However, a 2012 analysis by Mark Witton found that these two istiodactylids were not identical and, more importantly, did not group together in a phylogenetic tree.
[5] The cladogram below follows Witton's 2012 analysis, wherein he found Istiodactylidae to consist of five taxa (the first three species listed are outgroup or reference taxa):[5] Pterodactylus antiquus Pteranodon longiceps Coloborhynchus spielbergi Hongshanopterus lacustris Haopterus gracilis Nurhachius ignaciobritoi Longchengpterus zhaoi Istiodactylus latidens Istiodactylus sinensis Liaoxipterus brachyognathus The cladogram below is a topology recovered by Kellner et al. (2019).
In the analyses, they recovered Liaoxipterus as the sister taxon of Istiodactylus within the family Istiodactylidae, and placed within the more inclusive group Istiodactyliformes.