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PHOSPHATODRACO
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Genus: Phosphatodraco Pereda-Suberbiola, Bardet, Jouve, Iarochène, Bouya & Amaghzaz, 2003
Etymology: "phosphate dragon"
Type species: P. mauritanicus
Other Species: none
Diagnosis: See type species.
Classification: Azhdarchidae
Species: P. mauritanicus Pereda-Suberbiola, Bardet, Jouve, Iarochène, Bouya & Amaghzaz, 2003
Etymology: "of Mauritania"
Holotype: OCP DEK/GE 111 — Five cervical vertebrae and an indeterminate bone. (Pereda-Suberbiola, Bardet, Jouve, Iarochène, Bouya & Amaghzaz, 2003)
Referred Specimens: none
Time: Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Horizon: 'Site 1,' Oulad Abdoun Phosphatic Basin
Location: Sidi Daoui, Grand Doui, central Morocco
Skull length: ?
Total length: ?
Wingspan: ?5 m
Mass: ?
Diagnosis: A large azhdarchid pterodactyloid (estimated wing span 5 m) that differs in having posterior neck vertebra (cervical eight) very elongate, with a length of more that 50% that of the fifth cervical, and nearly as high as the centrum, squarely truncated at the top, very posteriorly located. Maximum vertebral length/anterior width between prezygophyses ratio of mid-series cervical vertebrae approximately 4.3 (cervical five), 4.1 (cervical six). (Pereda-Suberbiola, Bardet, Jouve, Iarochène, Bouya & Amaghzaz, 2003)
Comments:
References:
Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Bardet, N., Jouve, S., Iarochène, M., Bouya, B. & Amaghzaz, M., 2003. A new crested azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco: In: Evolution and Palaeobiology of Pterosaurs, edited by Buffetaut, E., and Mazin, J.-M., Geological Society Special Publication, n. 217, p. 80-90.