Phosphatodraco
| Phosphatodraco | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phosphatodraco cervical vertebrae |
||||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous (Upper Maastrichtian ) | ||||||||||||
| 69.9 to 66 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phosphatodraco | ||||||||||||
| Suberbiola, et al. 2003 | ||||||||||||
Phosphatodraco is a genus of pterosaurs from the family Azhdarchidae . The only species, Phosphatodraco mauritanicus , is based on a series of five cervical vertebraediscoveredfrom phosphatic deposits in central Morocco . Phosphatodraco dates from the late Maastrichtian , the most recent stage of the Cretaceous period, making it one of the last pterosaurs before the group died out on the Cretaceous-Tertiary border along with many other groups such as the dinosaurs. The genus shows the strongly elongated cervical vertebrae typical of Azhdarchiden; the wingspan is estimated to be about five meters.
features
Phosphatodraco is known from crushed and partially damaged cervical vertebrae, which represent a series from the fifth to the ninth cervical vertebra. Thus one phosphatodraco the few Azhdarchiden, of which the neck is relatively complete preserved. The cervical vertebrae of this pterosaur group are very characteristic: they are not only very long, but also differ from those of other pterosaurs in their very low to almost completely reduced spinous processes . Phosphatodraco can be differentiated from other members of the group by the lower cervical vertebrae: These vertebrae are relatively long and each make up more than 50% of the length of the fifth cervical vertebra, which is the longest of the Azhdarchid skeleton. The lowest cervical vertebrae also show a comparatively high spinous process, which is just as high as the vertebral body and is shifted backwards. A wingspan of around 5 m is reconstructed on the basis of the found bones.
Research history
The five cervical vertebrae (holotype specimen) were recovered during a paleontological excavation in the spring and summer of 2000 near the town of Khouribga . The site (site 1 of Sidi Daoui) is in the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin ; Phosphate is actively mined in the area. The excavation was part of a cooperation between the French research institute Center National de la Recherche Scientifique , the Moroccan Office Chérifien des Phosphates and the Ministère de l'Energie et des Mines , which has been ongoing since 1997 . The vertebrae are displaced from their original bone structure, but can be assigned to a single individual. During the preparation of the bones, further fossils were revealed, including remains of fish and the teeth of mosasaurs ( prognathodon ). It was the first pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous North Africa, and (after Siroccopteryx ) the second pterosaur described from Morocco. The first scientific description was published in 2003 by paleontologists around Xabier Pereda Suberbiola . The name Phosphatodraco ( Latin for "dragon from the phosphates") alludes to the phosphate-rich layers from which the fossils originate; the second part of the species name, mauritanicus , refers to the Mauritania region . The find is kept in the collection of the Office Chérifien des Phosphates in Khouribga.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, Nathalie Bardet, Stéphane Jouve, Mohamed Iarochène, Baâdi Bouya, Mbarek Amaghzaz: A new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco . In: Geological Society, London, Special Publications . 217, No. 1, January 1, 2003, ISSN 0305-8719 , pp. 79-90. doi : 10.1144 / GSL.SP.2003.217.01.08 .
- ↑ Nicholas R. Longrich, David M. Martill, Brian Andres: Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. In: PLoS Biology. 16, No. 3, 2018, p. E2001663, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pbio.2001663 .
