Dino card No. 0055 of 2,027

Alanqa

Say it: al-AN-kah

Name means: “from the Arabic word al-'Anqā', a mythical bird like a phoenix”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Alanqa was a giant flying reptile that soared over ancient rivers in what is now Morocco. It had a long, straight, pointed beak with no teeth, perfect for scooping up fish and other small animals.2

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

Lived

100 to 94 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Kem Kem Group, southeastern Morocco1 2

Food

Fish3 1

Wingspan

3 to 6 m2 1

most individuals about 4 m, but a neck vertebra suggests up to 6 m

Weight

16 kg to 37 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 9 house cats

wings as wide as 3 bicycles in a rowas heavy as 7 watermelons

How big was Alanqa compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Alanqa is known from only five jaw fragments and possibly one neck vertebra, so scientists have not found a full skeleton yet.1

Its beak was straight and pointed, like a spear, and it had a raised bump on the top of its lower jaw near the back.2

The largest Alanqa individuals may have had a wingspan as wide as a small airplane, about 6 meters (20 feet).2 1

Alanqa lived alongside huge meat-eating dinosaurs like Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, which might have hunted it.1

The Kem Kem Beds where Alanqa was found were once a freshwater delta, full of rivers and swamps.1

Two of the jaw fragments were first described in 1999 but were not named until 2010, when scientists realized they belonged to a new species.1

AI-made picture of Alanqa — An AI-made picture of how Alanqa 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 Alanqa

?How big was Alanqa?

Most Alanqa individuals had a wingspan of about 4 meters (13 feet), but a larger neck vertebra suggests some reached 6 meters (20 feet). An individual of that size would have weighed 16 to 37 kilograms (35 to 82 pounds).1

?What did Alanqa eat?

Alanqa probably ate small animals like crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, small reptiles, and even small or juvenile dinosaurs. Grooves in its jaw suggest it also crushed hard foods like mollusks and seeds.1

?Is Alanqa a dinosaur?

No, Alanqa is a pterosaur, a flying reptile that is not a dinosaur.1

?Where was Alanqa found?

Alanqa was found in the Kem Kem Group of southeastern Morocco, in a place called Aferdou N'Chaft near the village of Begaa.1

?When did Alanqa live?

Alanqa lived during the Late Cretaceous period, specifically the Cenomanian stage, about 100 to 93 million years ago.1

?Did Alanqa have teeth?

No, Alanqa had no teeth. Its jaws were straight and pointed, like a spear, perfect for scooping up food.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Alanqa
Named by: Ibrahim et al. 20104
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Azhdarchidae4
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea > Azhdarchidae4
Age of the rocks: 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)4
Rock formations: Ifezouane4
Countries: Morocco4
Fossil records: 4 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Alanqa was named in 2010 by Ibrahim and colleagues based on a nearly complete lower jaw found at Aferdou N'Chaft, Morocco, in 2008.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if the large neck vertebra really belongs to Alanqa or to a different, even bigger pterosaur.2 1

Where the facts come from

Alanqa (en.wikipedia.org)
A New Pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea: Azhdarchidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco - PMC (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Alanqa 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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