Epapatelo: wing bones from Cretaceous Angola

Epapatelo otyikokolo is an Angolan pterosaur described from two separate sets of articulated wing bones. The fossils preserve joint anatomy that can be compared across pteranodontians, yet no skull or complete wing was recovered. The often-cited 4.8 m wingspan is a calculation using missing elements, not a direct measurement. Cover artwork shows a possible coastal flight scene and intentionally does not define an unpreserved crest or beak.

Quick facts

Two fossils from the Bentiaba coast

Fernandes and colleagues named Epapatelo otyikokolo in 2022. Both words draw on the local Nhaneca language: the genus means wing and the species means lizard. The type locality lies north of the Bentiaba River in Angola's Namibe Province, within the upper Mocuio Formation. This was among the first documented pterosaur assemblages from the country.

The holotype MGUAN-PA650 includes the distal half of a left humerus found attached to an ulna. The paratype MGUAN-PA661 has an associated left ulna and radius from a different individual. Other isolated bones from Bentiaba document more pterosaurs, but they cannot all be assigned to Epapatelo. The anatomical image below represents the kind of material, not the actual fossil pair.

What the wing joints and proportions say

The preserved distal humerus has a broad expansion and distinctive projections. Joint surfaces on the ulna add further diagnostic characters. A phylogenetic analysis using both named specimens placed Epapatelo within Pteranodontia and close to Alcione and Simurghia in the proposed Aponyctosauria group. These relationships are hypotheses from a character matrix, while the bone shapes themselves can be observed directly.

The type ulna was measured at 290.1 mm. The authors estimated missing humerus, metacarpal and finger-bone lengths by comparison, arriving at just over 2.4 m for one wing and roughly 4.8 m across both. Those values carry model uncertainty. Preliminary bone histology suggested that one studied specimen was probably not fully mature. Pteranodon is a useful broader comparison, but its skull and crest cannot be copied onto Epapatelo.

Marine burial and its limits

The upper Mocuio beds near Bentiaba are early Maastrichtian, approximately 71.64–71.40 million years old. The bones accumulated on a shallow marine shelf near a coastline. Other fossils at the locality show signs of damage and possible scavenging, but those observations do not establish how the two named Epapatelo individuals died.

A marine fossil site shows where the bones were buried. It does not prove the animal always flew offshore or identify its food. No skull, teeth or stomach contents of Epapatelo are known. The second illustration evokes the ancient coast while keeping its exact shoreline, colours and flight behaviour within artistic interpretation.