Phosphatodraco mauritanicus was a large pterosaur from the late Cretaceous period. Its name translates to "dragon from the phosphate mines," referring to the famous phosphate basins around Khouribga in Morocco.
A pterosaur over the ancient Moroccan sea
Around 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, Phosphatodraco soared over the coastal landscapes of North Africa. As an azhdarchid, it belonged to a group of large pterosaurs with long necks, powerful beaks, and very expansive wings.
Phosphatodraco mauritanicus is estimated to have had a wingspan of up to about five meters. This made it an impressive glider, capable of utilizing the warm air currents over what was then the Moroccan coastal sea.
The "dragon from the phosphate mines"
The fossils from the Khouribga region are among the remarkable testaments to the late Cretaceous period in Africa. The phosphate deposits there preserve the remains of a diverse fauna that lived in a landscape of coasts, lagoons, and open sea.
Phosphatodraco was likely not just a passive glider. Like other large azhdarchids, it may have searched for prey on land and in shallow coastal areas. Its long neck and powerful beak were important tools in this, even if the exact hunting behavior cannot be fully reconstructed from the fossils.
A contemporary of Chenanisaurus and Mosasaurus
Phosphatodraco lived in the same late epoch as the abelisaur Chenanisaurus barbaricus and the marine predator Mosasaurus. While Chenanisaurus hunted on land and Mosasaurus dominated the seas, Phosphatodraco moved between the sky, the coast, and the shoreline.
This chronological proximity makes the fossils from Khouribga particularly exciting: they show how varied the habitats were at the end of the Cretaceous period. Giant pterosaurs circled above the coasts, powerful theropods lived on land, and large marine reptiles hunted in the sea.
One of the last pterosaurs before the mass extinction
Phosphatodraco belongs to a fauna that existed only a few million years before the asteroid impact. The impact at the end of the Cretaceous marked the end of non-avian dinosaurs and the large pterosaurs. Birds, which are also dinosaurs, were the only lineage to survive this great period of upheaval.
Every find from the phosphate mines of Khouribga helps us better understand this final chapter of the Cretaceous period. Phosphatodraco mauritanicus reminds us that the sky over Africa was ruled by an impressive diversity of large pterosaurs at that time.
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