Dino card No. 0039 of 2,027

Afrotapejara

Say it: AF-roh-tap-eh-JAH-rah

Name means: “African Tapejara”1

Ate: Fruit and plantsFlying reptilesEarly Cretaceous to Late CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Afrotapejara was a flying reptile that lived in what is now Morocco. It had a downturned beak and no teeth, just like a modern bird. Scientists think it might have eaten fruit.1 4

Fun fact: pterosaurs flew over the dinosaurs, but they were their cousins, not dinosaurs themselves.

Lived

106 to 94 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Kem Kem beds near Takmout, Erfoud, southern Morocco1 2

Food

Fruit and plants4 1

Top speed

about 52 km/h (32 mph)

Flying, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How fast was it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3 mph)

A kid on a bike about 22 km/h (14 mph)

Afrotapejara about 52 km/h (32 mph)

A galloping horse about 65 km/h (40 mph)

A cheetah about 100 km/h (62 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Afrotapejara is the first tapejarid pterosaur ever found in Africa.1 2

Its name means 'African Tapejara', because it comes from Africa and looks like the Brazilian pterosaur Tapejara.1

Afrotapejara had a downturned beak and no teeth, which is unusual for pterosaurs.1

It lived during the mid-Cretaceous period, about 106 to 94 million years ago.4

Only a partial jaw bone (the front part of the upper beak) has been found so far.1

The Kem Kem beds in Morocco, where Afrotapejara was found, are famous for many other pterosaurs and dinosaurs.1

AI-made picture of Afrotapejara — An AI-made picture of how Afrotapejara might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Afrotapejara

?What did Afrotapejara eat?

Scientists think it might have eaten fruit, but no one knows for sure. It had no teeth, like a bird, and its beak shape is similar to animals that eat fruit.1

?Was Afrotapejara a dinosaur?

No, Afrotapejara was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived at the same time as dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs.3

?How big was Afrotapejara?

Nobody knows for sure, because only a partial jaw bone has been found so far. Scientists can't tell its size from just that piece.3

?When did Afrotapejara live?

It lived during the mid-Cretaceous period, about 106 to 94 million years ago, in what is now Morocco.3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Afrotapejara
Named by: Martill et al. 20204
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Tapejaridae4
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea4
Age of the rocks: 106 to 94 million years (Albian / Cenomanian)4
Countries: Morocco4
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Afrotapejara was named in 2020 by David Martill and colleagues. The fossil was bought from a fossil trader in Erfoud, Morocco, and came from the Kem Kem beds near Takmout.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure what Afrotapejara's crest looked like, because only the front of its beak has been found.1

Where the facts come from

A new tapejarid (Pterosauria, Azhdarchoidea) from the mid (pure.port.ac.uk)
A new tapejarid (Pterosauria, Azhdarchoidea) from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Takmout, southern Morocco (sciencedirect.com)
Afrotapejara (en.wikipedia.org)
Afrotapejara in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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