''Albadraco'' is an

azhdarchid Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...

genus that during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

lived in the area of modern

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is ''Albadraco tharmisensis''.

Discovery and naming

At the site of Oarda de Jos, near

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...

in Alba County, two jaw pieces were found of a large pterosaur. The discovery was reported and illustrated in a dissertation by Cătălin Jipa-Murzea in 2012.Jipa-Murzea, C., 2012, ''Upper Cretaceous continental vertebrate assemblages from Metaliferi sedimentary area: systematics, paleoecology and paleobiogeography'', PhD Thesis Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, 228 pp In 2019, the type species ''Albadraco tharmisensis'' was named and described by Alexandru Adrian Solomon, Vlad Aurel Codrea, Márton Venczel and Gerald Grellet-Tinner. The generic name combines a reference to Alba with the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''draco'', "dragon". The specific name refers to a provenance near Tharmis, the ancient Dacian name of Alba Iulia. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

, PSMUBB V651a, b, was found in a layer of the Șard Formation dating from the latest

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval ...

, sixty-six million years old. It consists of two fused premaxillae of the snout (PSMUBB V651a) and a piece of the symphysis of the lower jaws (PSMUBB V651b). Both parts were assumed to have belonged to a single individual, perhaps a subadult animal. It is the first example from the Cretaceous of Europe of a pterosaur exemplar preserving both upper jaw and lower jaw elements. A second specimen, PSMUBB V652, a fourth neck vertebra from the same site, was referred to the species. It too is from a subadult animal and the describing authors considered it possible that it represented the same individual as the holotype.

Description

The wingspan of the holotype was estimated at five to six metres, by

extrapolation In mathematics, extrapolation is a type of estimation, beyond the original observation range, of the value of a variable on the basis of its relationship with another variable. It is similar to interpolation, which produces estimates between know ...

from the jaw pieces. The adult size was estimated at a span of six to seven metres. ''Albadraco'' shared its habitat with '' Hatzegopteryx'' and the possibility was considered that its holotype was only a juvenile exemplar of that giant pterosaur. This was deemed improbable however, because the holotype bone structure resembled that of subadult animals, not of fast growing young individuals. The describing authors indicated five distinguishing traits. They were

autapomorphies In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to t ...

, unique derived characters, in which ''Albadraco'' differs from all other known Azhdarchidae. The cutting edges and sides of the beak show a high foramina density. The premaxilla has split-like foramina on the lower and side surfaces but also two rows of foramina on the side. The snout has a triangular cross-section but its top edge is more rounded than with other azhdarchids. The symphysis of the lower jaws has a U-shaped cross-section in front but a V-shaped one at the rear. The fourth neck vertebra has an ''Elongation Ratio'', horizontal length divided by transverse width, that more approaches the ER of the third neck vertebra of other azhdarchids in being shorter than usual.

Phylogeny

In 2019, ''Albadraco'' was placed in the Azhdarchidae, based on the comparative method.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q76448859 Azhdarchids Late Cretaceous pterosaurs of Europe Fossil taxa described in 2019

Discovery and naming

Description

Phylogeny

See also

References