First complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent: insight into pterodactyloid diversity (original) (raw)

2019, Scientific Reports

Despite being known from every continent, the geological record of pterosaurs, the first group of vertebrates to develop powered flight, is very uneven, with only a few deposits accounting for the vast majority of specimens and almost half of the taxonomic diversity. Among the regions that stand out for the greatest gaps of knowledge regarding these flying reptiles, is the Afro-Arabian continent, which has yielded only a small number of very fragmentary and incomplete materials. Here we fill part of that gap and report on the most complete pterosaur recovered from this continent, more specifically from the Late Cretaceous (~95 mya) Hjoûla Lagerstätte of Lebanon. This deposit is known since the Middle Ages for the exquisitely preserved fishes and invertebrates, but not for tetrapods, which are exceedingly rare. Mimodactylus libanensis gen. et sp. nov. differs from the other Afro-Arabian pterosaur species named to date and is closely related to the Chinese species Haopterus gracilis, ...

Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary

PLoS biology, 2018

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight and the largest animals to ever take wing. The pterosaurs persisted for over 150 million years before disappearing at the end of the Cretaceous, but the patterns of and processes driving their extinction remain unclear. Only a single family, Azhdarchidae, is definitively known from the late Maastrichtian, suggesting a gradual decline in diversity in the Late Cretaceous, with the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction eliminating a few late-surviving species. However, this apparent pattern may simply reflect poor sampling of fossils. Here, we describe a diverse pterosaur assemblage from the late Maastrichtian of Morocco that includes not only Azhdarchidae but the youngest known Pteranodontidae and Nyctosauridae. With 3 families and at least 7 species present, the assemblage represents the most diverse known Late Cretaceous pterosaur assemblage and dramatically increases the diversity of Maastrichtian pterosaurs. At least ...

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An articulated pterosaur wing from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) phosphates of Morocco

Cretaceous Research

Abstract A new and articulated specimen of a pterosaur wing including the humerus, radius/ulna, parts of the carpus and metacarpus and a first wing phalanx from Maastrichtian phosphatic deposits of Morocco are assigned to Tethydraco regalis Longrich et al., 2018. Aspect of the humerus morphology, shape of the deltopectoral crest and ratios of the wing elements suggest that T. regalis is an azhdarchid rather than pteranodontian pterosaur, as originally proposed. A high abundance of azhdarchid remains in the open marine setting of the Moroccan phosphates casts doubt on suggestions that Azhdarchidae are largely terrestrial pterosaurs.

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A SURVEY OF PTEROSAURS FROM AFRICA WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIMEN FROM MOROCCO

RESUMO O registro de pterossauros procedentes do continente africano, revisto aqui, é extremamente pobre. De um total de oito espécies descritas, cinco são dos depósitos do Jurássico Superior de Tendaguru (Tanzânia), quatro das quais baseadas em ossos isolados não diagnósticos ao nível especí¿ co. Ao contrário do que se supunha, uma quinta espécie-Tendaguripterus recki, não possui as sinapomor¿ as de Germanodactylidae (ou Dsungaripteroidea) e é considerada como representante de um novo grupo de pterossauros, aqui denominado de Tendaguripteridae (n. taxon). Uma sín¿ se mandibular dos depósitos Albianos/Cenomanianos do Marrocos é descrita e tentativamente assinalada a Pteranodontidae. Outros clados indenti¿ cados nestes depósitos são Tapejaridae, Anhangueridae e Azhdarchidae. Mais exemplares são necessários para que se possa ter um panorama geral da diversidade dos pterossauros africanos. ABSTRACT The record of pterosaurs from the African continent is scarce and is reviewed here. Five species were described from the Upper Jurassic Tendaguru beds (Tanzania), four of which based on isolated remains that are not diagnostic at a speci¿ c level. A ¿ fth species-Tendaguripterus recki, lacks the synapomorphies of the Germanodactylidae (or Dsungaripteroidea) as previously thought and is here identi¿ ed as a member of a new pterosaur group (Tendaguripteridae n. taxon). A lower jaw from the Albian/Cenomanian deposits of Morocco is described and tentatively attributed to Pteranodontidae. Other pterosaur clades from those Moroccan deposits are Tapejaridae, Anhangueridae and Azhdarchidae. More specimens are necessary to provide an overall picture of the diversity African pterosaurs.

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The pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco

PalZ

The pterosaur assemblage of the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco is reviewed. This analysis examines their taxonomy, palaeoecology and palaeobiology with comments on taphonomy. New material permits the rediagnosis of the azhdarchoids Alanqa saharica and Afrotapejara zouhrii. Several specimens are reported that do not fit within the paradigms of previously named taxa. They represent three distinct jaw morphotypes, but are not assigned to new taxa here. The assemblage is highly diverse, including four tooth-bearing taxa assigned to Ornithocheiridae and five named taxa and three additional morphotypes assigned to Azhdarchoidea. The Kem Kem Group assemblage is the most diverse for any pterosaur-bearing fluvial deposit and one of the most diverse of any pterosaur assemblage. The assemblage is heavily biased in terms of preservation with an as yet unexplained high abundance of jaw fragments. We highlight the importance of fragmentary material in pterosaur studies.

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A pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Lapurr sandstone, West Turkana, Kenya

Anais da Academia …, 2011

An isolated pterosaurian caudal cervical (~ postcervical) vertebra was recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Lapurr sandstone ofWest Turkana, northwestern Kenya. The vertebral centrum is short, wide, and dorsoventrally compressed. Although the specimen is lightly built similar to most pterosaurs, it is here referred to Pterodactyloidea and tentatively to the Azhdarchidae in that it lacks pneumatic features on both the centrum and neural arch. This represents one of the few pterosaurs recovered from the entirety of Afro-Arabia, the first pterosaur recovered from the Cretaceous of East Africa, and, significantly, a specimen that was recovered from fluvial deposits rather than the near-shore marine setting typical of most pterosaur discoveries.

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