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Barbaridactylus

Name means: “Barbary Coast finger”1

Ate: FishFlying reptilesLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Barbaridactylus was a flying reptile that soared over the seas of North Africa near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It had long, narrow wings and a wingspan as wide as a small car. It likely snatched fish from the ocean with its upward-curving beak.1 4

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

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco1 4

Food

Fish4

Wingspan

4 m1

Weight

4 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 1 house cats

wings as wide as 2 bicycles in a rowabout as heavy as a house catas heavy as 33 bananas

How big was Barbaridactylus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Barbaridactylus was one of the largest nyctosaurids, with a wingspan of about 4 metres (13 feet).1

Its name comes from the Barbary Coast of North Africa and the Greek word for finger.1

All known fossils of Barbaridactylus were found in a three-year dig that uncovered about 200 pterosaur specimens.1

The type specimen includes a right femur, left radius, ulna, humerus, and scapulocoracoid, plus part of the lower jaw.1

Its scapulocoracoid is fused, meaning the animal was probably an adult when it died.1

Barbaridactylus lived about 66 million years ago, just 1 million years before the extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs.1

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

?Was Barbaridactylus a dinosaur?

No, Barbaridactylus was a pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived during the time of dinosaurs, but it was not a dinosaur.1 2

?How big was Barbaridactylus?

Barbaridactylus had a wingspan of about 4 metres (13 feet) and weighed around 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). That is about as wide as a small boat.1

?What did Barbaridactylus eat?

It likely ate fish and squid. Barbaridactylus was an aerial fisher that snatched prey from the ocean surface or dove into the water.3

?When did Barbaridactylus live?

Barbaridactylus lived about 66 million years ago, during the very end of the Late Cretaceous period. That is just 1 million years before the big extinction that wiped out the non-bird dinosaurs.1

?Where was Barbaridactylus found?

Its fossils were discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco, North Africa. The area was a warm, shallow sea at the time.1 2

?Why does Barbaridactylus have that name?

Its name means 'Barbary Coast finger,' after the Barbary Coast of North Africa where it was found, and the Greek word for finger. The species name grandis means 'great' in Latin.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Barbaridactylus
Named by: Longrich et al. 20184
Group: Flying reptiles
Family / clade: Nyctosauridae4
Classification: Pterosauria > Pterodactyloidea4
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Couche III4
Countries: Morocco4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Barbaridactylus was named in 2018 by paleontologists Nicholas R. Longrich, David M. Martill, and Brian Andres. The fossils came from phosphates in the Ouled Abdoun Basin of Morocco.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Barbaridactylus should be placed in its own genus or considered a species of Nyctosaurus. Some studies suggest it might be Nyctosaurus grandis.1

Where the facts come from

Barbaridactylus (en.wikipedia.org)
Barbaridactylus Facts for Kids (kids.kiddle.co)
Barbaridactylus — Pteros (pteros.com)
Barbaridactylus 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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