Barbaridactylus
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''Barbaridactylus'' is a nyctosaurid
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 ...
from the Ouled Abdoun Basin of
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 ...
, a basin that dates back to the
Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...
stage of the
Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...
. It was published in
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
by paleontologists Nicholas R. Longrich, David M. Martill, and Brian Andres. In the same publication, two other pterosaurs from the same basin were described: '' Alcione'' and '' Simurghia''. The type and only species is ''B. grandis''.


Discovery and naming

All known specimens of ''Barbaridactylus'' were uncovered in a 3-year dig that unearthed about 200 pterosaur specimens. Its type specimen is FSAC-OB 232, which consists of its right femur, left radius, ulna, humerus, and scapulocoracoid, and partial mandible. Four other specimens have been referred to ''Barbaridactylus'', FSAC-OB 8, 9, 10, and 11. They are all humeri. According to Longrich, Martill and Andres, ''Barbaridactylus'' is named after the
Barbary Coast The Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery, or Berber Coast) were the coastal regions of central and western North Africa, more specifically, the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, a ...
of North Africa, and the Greek ''dactylo'', meaning "finger". However, the proper word for "finger" in
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
is ''daktylos'' (δάκτυλος).Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.''Oxford: Clarendon Press. Its specific name, ''grandis'' means "great" in Latin.


Description

''Barbaridactylus'' was one of the larger nyctosaurids, with a humerus length of , wingspan of approximately and a body mass of , making it one of the largest nyctosaurids. Like other nyctosaurids, ''Barbaridactylus'' had upward-curving jaws. The only known cervical is also rather typical for nyctosaurids, as it is proportionately short and broad, a morphology also present in the related pteranodontids. The scapulocoracoid is fused, meaning that the animal was probably an adult. It is boomerang shaped, and the two bones (the scapula and coracoid) form a 60-degree angle. The humeral shaft is long and thin. The hatchet-shaped deltopectoral crest (a distinctive feature of nyctosaurids) is in a notably distal location in relation to the humeral head, more similar to that of '' Nyctosaurus'' than '' Alcione''. This crest is short and broad, and the expanded tip is weakly developed, which are basal features. The deltopectoral crest appears warped from an anterior view, more so than in other nyctosaurids, but much less than in pteranodontids. There is a pneumatic fossa located on the ventral surface of each humeral head that is unique to this species. The ulna is relatively gracile, unlike the robust ulna of ''Alcione'', and its ends are weakly expanded. The diameter radius is approximately two thirds that of the ulna. The femur of ''Barbaridactylus'' is relatively typical for a nyctosaurid, although it lacks the strong distal expansion present in other nyctosaurids. Instead, it expands more gently, similar to that of ''Pteranodon''.


Classification

Below is a
cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...
showing the results of a
phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
analysis first presented by Andres and colleagues in 2014, and updated with additional data by Longrich and colleagues in 2018. In this analysis, they found ''Barbaridactylus'' to be the sister taxon of the ''Nyctosaurus'' species ''N. lamegoi'', both placed within the family
Nyctosauridae Nyctosauridae (meaning "night lizards" or "bat lizards") is a family of specialized soaring pterosaurs of the late Cretaceous Period of North America, Africa, and possibly other continents including South America. It was named in 1889 by Henry ...
. As part of a 2022
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
on ''
Quetzalcoatlus ''Quetzalcoatlus'' () is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in North America. The Type (biology), type specimen, recovered in 1971 from the Javelina Formation of Texas, United States, ...
'', Brian Andres suggested that ''Barbaridactylus'' may represent an additional species of ''Nyctosaurus''. In a 2024 phylogenetic analysis, ''Barbaridactylus'' was recovered as the sister taxon of ''Muzquiopteryx'' outside of the genus '' Nyctosaurus'', and "'' Nyctosaurus''" ''lamegoi'' was included as a species of '' Simurghia''.


Paleoecology

''Barbaridactylus'' was discovered in upper Maastrichtian phosphates located in the Ouled Abdoun Basin of Northern Morocco. This geological formation does not belong to a formation. It is divided into couches, with ''Barbaridactylus'' being discovered in Couche III. This layer dates back to the latest Maastrichtian, about 1 million years before the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. Couche III represents the most diverse marine ecosystem known from the time. A large variety of marine life is known from the region, including sharks and bony fish, in addition to turtles,
plesiosaur The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), Period, possibly in the Rhaetian st ...
s and
mosasaur Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Ancient Greek, Greek ' meaning 'lizard') are an extinct group of large aquatic reptiles within the family Mosasauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains wer ...
s. A few rare, fragmentary dinosaur fossils are known, including an
abelisaur Ceratosaurs are members of the clade Ceratosauria, a group of dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestor with '' Ceratosaurus'' than with birds. The oldest known ceratosaur, '' Saltriovenator'', dates to the earlie ...
and a
sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
. Other pterosaurs in the formation were originally only represented by the
azhdarchid Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...
''
Phosphatodraco mauritanicus ''Phosphatodraco'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous of what is now Morocco. In 2000, a pterosaur specimen consisting of five Cervical vertebrae, cervical (neck) vertebrae was discovered in the Ouled Abdou ...
''. However, in addition to ''Barbaridactylus'', more recent studies have revealed at least five more pterosaur species from this location, including '' Alcione'', '' Simurghia'' and ''
Tethydraco ''Tethydraco'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of what is now the area of present Morocco, about 66 million years ago. ''Tethydraco'' was originally assigned to the family ...
''.


Notes


References

{{Portal bar, Paleontology, Morocco Late Cretaceous pterosaurs of Africa Fossil taxa described in 2018 Pteranodontia