A genus of pterosaurs known as Simurghia is found in Morocco's Ouled Abdoun Basin, which is thought to have formed around 66 million years ago during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous era. Paleontologists Brian Andres, David M. Martill, and Nicholas R. Longrich published it in 2018 together with two additional pterosaurs from the same basin, Alcione and Barbaridactylus. S. robusta is the sole species and the type.
Discovery and Naming
About 200 pterosaur specimens were discovered during a three-year excavation project, including all known species of Simurghia. The ulnar crest and humeral head are the only parts of the humerus that are missing from the type specimen, FSAC-OB 7. The Simurgh, a flying beast from Persian mythology, is the inspiration behind the name Simurghia. The Latin name for the species, S. robusta, translates to "robust."
Classification
The phylogenetic study findings are displayed in the cladogram below, which was updated with new data by Longrich and colleagues in 2018 after it was initially reported by Andres and colleagues in 2014. Simurghia is the sister taxon of the species Alcione elainus, according to this research, and both are classified within the Nyctosauridae family. Pteranodontia
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Fernandes et al. (2022) identified Simurghia as the sister taxon to Epapatelo and Alcione based on their phylogenetic analysis. These taxa make up the new clade Aponyctosauria, together with the Nyctosauridae.
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Paleobiology
Although Simurghia resembles Alcione in shape, it is improbable that it is an adult member of the species. Based on the well ossified condyles, united synsacrum and scapulocoracoid, and thick, avascular surface texture of their bones, all specimens of Alcione are either subadults or adults. Furthermore, the absence of humeri of intermediate sizes would imply that these pterosaurs are not related. Simurghia would weigh 560% more than Alcione using isometric scaling, indicating the improbable occurrence of intraspecific variation or sexual dimorphism. Its wingspan is believed to be 5 meters (16 feet).
Paleoecology
Upper Maastrichtian phosphates in the Ouled Abdoun Basin of Northern Morocco are home to Simurghia. There is no formation that this geological formation is a part of. It is separated into couches, Couche III containing the discovery of Simurghia. This layer comes from the most recent Maastrichtian, which is around a million years older than the end-Cretaceous extinction event. The most varied marine environment discovered at the time is represented by Couche III. Along with turtles, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs, the area is known to have a wide diversity of marine life, including sharks and bony fish. There are a few known rare, incomplete dinosaur fossils, such as those of an abelisaur and a sauropod. Phosphatodraco mauritanicus, an azhdarchid, was the only representative of the other pterosaurs in the formation at first. More recent research, however, has identified at least five other pterosaur species from this region in addition to Simurghia, including Barbaridactylus, Alcione, and Tethydraco.
Reconstruction of Simurghia.
Sources[1]