Barbaridactylus

genus of reptiles (fossil)

Barbaridactylus is an extinct genus of nyctosaurid pterosaur from Maastrichtian/Danian-aged rocks from the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. It was one of six new Maastriichtian/Danian-aged pterosaurs described in 2018.[1] Two of these pterosaurs are yet to be named.

Barbaridactylus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 66 Ma
Holotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Pterosauria
Suborder: Pterodactyloidea
Clade: Pteranodontia
Family: Nyctosauridae
Genus: Barbaridactylus
Longrich, Martill, & Andres, 2018
Type species
Barbaridactylus grandis
Longrich, Martill, & Andres, 2018
Humerus

Description change

Barbaridactylus was probably a slender pterosaur. Its arm and wing bones were averagely sized for a pterosaur of its time.

Discovery and naming change

Barbaridactylus was described based from two specimens.

The first specimen consisted of a partial jaw, a single neck vertebra, part of the arm and wing bones and the left thigh bone.

The second specimen (catalogued as USM93000) consists of a well preserved skeleton.

Paleoecology change

Barbaridactylus was discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco. It coexisted with the pterosaurs Alcione, Simurghia, Tethydraco and Phospatodraco and the dinosaur Chenanisaurus.

References change

  1. Nicholas R. Longrich; David M. Martill; Brian Andres (2018). "Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary". PLOS Biology. 16 (3): e2001663. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663. PMC 5849296. PMID 29534059.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)