''Afrotapejara'' (meaning "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n old being") is an extinct genus of

tapejarid Tapejaridae (from a Tupi word meaning 'the lord of the ways') is a family of azhdarchoid pterosaurs from the Cretaceous period. Members are currently known from Brazil, England, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and China. The most p ...

pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

discovered in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. The type species, ''Afrotapejara zouhri'', was named and described in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. It was the first tapejarid discovered in

and the fourth pterosaur discovered in the

Kem Kem Beds The Kem Kem Group (commonly known as the Kem Kem beds) is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations ...

Discovery

British paleontologist David Michael Martill acquired a pterosaur jaw from a fossil trader at

Erfoud Erfoud (, Latn, ber, Arfud; ) is an oasis town in the Sahara Desert, in the Drâa-Tafilalet region, eastern Morocco. It belongs to ait atta tribe, divided into several districts: Hay Salam, Hay Jdid, Hay Ziz, Hay el Bathaa, Hay Annahda, and Hay ...

. It would have been excavated at the plateau of Ikhf N’ Taqmout, in Tafilalt. In 2020, the type species ''Afrotapejara zouhri'' was named and described by David Martill, Roy Smith, David M. Unwin, Alexander Kao, James McPhee and Nizar Ibrahim. The generic name combines references to Africa and the related genus '' Tapejara''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the Moroccan paleontologist Samir Zouhri. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, FSAC-KK 5004, had been found in the Kem-Kem Beds, dating from the

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

- early

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

. It consists of a snout lacking the front tip and extending to behind to a position below the front of the snout crest. The piece had already been prepared by the fossil traders. Subsequent preparation by Martill, as well as a

CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

, showed that a bone fragment from some other taxon had been used to repair damage to the upper edge. Martill deposited the fossil in the collection of the ''Département de Géologie (Paléontologie), Faculté des Sciences Aïn Chock''. Two additional fossils were referred to the species: the specimens FSAC-KK 5006 and FSAC-KK 5007. These are snouts also, with a similar provenance, and showing an almost identical build. Specimen BSP 1997 I 67, a symphysis of the lower jaws described in 1999, was provisionally referred. It too, had been found in the Red Beds of the Moroccan Kem-Kem.Wellnhofer, P. & Buffetaut, E., 1999, "Pterosaur remains from the Cretaceous of Morocco", ''Paläontologische Zeitschrift'' 73(1-2): 133–142

Description

''Afrotapejara'' is distinguished from all other tapejarids by the possession of a

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

(upwards) expansion of the

rostral Rostral may refer to: Anatomy * Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region * Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs * Rostral organ, of certain fish * Rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other sca ...

(front) margin a short distance from the rostral tip. Additionally, a unique combination is present of two traits that in themselves are not unique. The side of the snout shows a row of small elongated openings close to and parallel to the edge shared with the palate. The palate shows a small boss at the rear, on the midline.

Discovery

Description

References

Further reading