Barbaridactylus: a large nyctosaurid from Morocco

Barbaridactylus grandis was a large nyctosaurid from the phosphate deposits of Morocco, close to the end of the Cretaceous. Its partial skeleton includes several bones from the shoulder and wing, a neck vertebra and part of a hind limb, but not a complete wing or skull. That combination makes the animal more informative than a jaw-only pterosaur while leaving its head crest, full proportions and diet unknown. Its profile belongs in the pterosaur catalogue, beside the smaller nyctosaurid Alcione from the same broad fossil assemblage.

Quick facts

A name from the North African coast

Nicholas Longrich, David Martill and Brian Andres named Barbaridactylus grandis in 2018. The genus refers to the Barbary region of North Africa, while grandis alludes to the animal's large size. The name was founded on FSAC-OB 232, a partial skeleton from the upper Maastrichtian phosphate deposits of the Ouled Abdoun Basin near Khouribga, Morocco.

The main specimen preserves the left humerus, radius and ulna, a scapulocoracoid, a cervical vertebra, a right femur and the rear portion of a lower jaw. Several other humeri from the same deposits were also referred to the genus. The collection therefore samples more than one individual and includes bones from different parts of the body, but it is not a single complete skeleton. Referred isolated bones should not be pictured as if they were all joined in one animal without qualification.

The humerus is especially useful for identifying nyctosaurids. Its expanded deltopectoral crest and proportions distinguish the bone from those of several other pterosaurs. Nyctosaurids also reduced most fingers apart from the greatly elongated fourth finger that supported the wing. The fossil evidence for the shoulder and arm is therefore stronger than the evidence for the full outline of the animal.

How large was it?

Comparisons among the preserved humeri suggest a wingspan of roughly five metres. That is a useful estimate, not a direct measurement. The holotype does not preserve a complete series of wing bones from which tip-to-tip span can be read. The calculation depends on how the missing parts are scaled against better-known pterosaurs, and the referred isolated bones may represent individuals of different sizes.

This estimate makes Barbaridactylus one of the larger known nyctosaurids. It approached the scale of some Pteranodon species, though comparison in wingspan does not mean the two had the same skull, flight mechanics or ecology. The well-known branched cranial crest of Nyctosaurus is not evidence that Barbaridactylus carried the same structure.

A nyctosaurid without a known skull

Phylogenetic analysis places Barbaridactylus within Nyctosauridae, a pterosaur family whose members generally lacked teeth and reduced the hand to a specialised wing finger. That placement is based chiefly on the available postcranial bones and their anatomical details. It does not supply the missing head.

The back of a lower jaw is known, but the front of the skull, palate and any cranial crest are absent. A reconstruction can use nyctosaurid relatives to estimate a plausible head, yet it should not present a dramatic crest as a discovery. The same limit applies to soft tissues, colour and the exact shape of the beak.

The Moroccan fauna also includes Alcione, a much smaller nyctosaurid with unusually short, robust wing bones. The contrast suggests that these pterosaurs occupied different body-size and flight-performance ranges. It does not show exactly how either species fed or whether they competed for the same prey.

Life in the phosphate sea

The Ouled Abdoun phosphates accumulated in a productive marine setting on the margin of the ancient Atlantic. The deposits preserve fishes, sharks, marine reptiles, birds and pterosaurs. A flying animal might have crossed the shoreline and sea surface, and fish could have been available. No prey remains or stomach contents are directly associated with Barbaridactylus, however, so a fish-based diet remains an ecological possibility rather than a demonstrated fact.

The fossils come from the late Maastrichtian, within the final part of the Cretaceous. The coexistence of large and small pterosaurs in this Moroccan fauna shows that several forms persisted close to the end-Cretaceous boundary in this region. It cannot establish the global abundance of pterosaurs or the exact timing of the extinction of each lineage.

The most secure picture is therefore specific but incomplete: a large Moroccan nyctosaurid known from multiple diagnostic limb and shoulder bones, with a wingspan estimated near five metres. Its skull, crest, feeding behaviour, colour and individual flight style remain reconstructions or unknowns.