Phosphatodraco

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Phosphatodraco
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Pterosauria
Suborder:	Pterodactyloidea
Family:	Azhdarchidae
Genus:	Phosphatodraco

Binomial name

Phosphatodraco mauritanicus
Pereda-Suberbiola, Bardet, Jouve, Iarochène, Bouya, and Amaghzaz, 2005

Phosphatodraco (meaning "phosphate dragon", in reference to the phosphates of Morocco, the country where it was found) is a genus of azhdarchid pterodactyloid pterosaur from a late Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous portion of the Oulad (or Qualad) Abdoun Phosphatic Basin, Grand Doui, near Khouribga, central Morocco. It is based on OCP DEK/GE 111, which is composed of five associated cervical vertebrae and a bone of unknown origin. The individual to which the neck belonged would have had a wingspan of about 5 meters (16.4 feet). It is unusual among azhdarchids for having elongate vertebrae at the base of the neck; the neck is also one of the most complete known for azhdarchids. It was one of the last pterosaurs before the K-T extinction that finished off the group, and is the first azhdarchid found in northern Africa. P. mauritanicus is the type and only known species.^[1]

[edit] References

^ Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie; Jouve, Stephane; Iarochène, Mohamed; Bouya, Baâde; and Amaghzaz, Mbarek (2003). "A new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco", in Buffetaut, Eric; and Mazin, Jean- Michel (eds.): Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs, Geological Society of London, Special Publications, 217. London: Geological Society of London, 80-90. ISBN 1-86239-143-2.