The paleoenvironments of azhdarchid pterosaurs localities in the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan

ZooKeys
Alexander AverianovPavel Skutschas

Abstract

Five pterosaur localities are currently known from the Late Cretaceous in the northeastern Aral Sea region of Kazakhstan. Of these, one is Turonian-Coniacian in age, the Zhirkindek Formation (Tyulkili), and four are Santonian in age, all from the early Campanian Bostobe Formation (Baibishe, Akkurgan, Buroinak, and Shakh Shakh). All so far collected and identifiable Late Cretaceous pterosaur bones from Kazakhstan likely belong to Azhdarchidae: Azhdarcho sp. (Tyulkili); Aralazhdarchobostobensis (Shakh Shakh); and Samrukianessovi (Akkurgan). These latter two taxa, both from the Bostobe Formation might be synonyms. Azhdarcho sp. from the Zhirkindek Formation lived in a tropical-to-subtropical relatively humid climate on the shore of an estuarine basin connected to the Turgai Sea. Known fossils were collected in association with brackish-water bivalves and so the overall paleoenvironment of this pterosaur was likely an estuarine marsh as indicated by the dominance of conifers and low relative counts of ferns and angiosperms. Aralazhdarchobostobensis, from the Bostobe Formation, lived on a coastal fluvial plain along the Turgai Sea. This paleoenvironment was either floodplain (Akkurgan, Buroinak, and Shakh Shakh) or estuarine (Baibis...Continue Reading

References

Aug 13, 2011·Biology Letters·Darren NaishPascal Godefroit
Dec 6, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Clément CoiffardDavid L Dilcher

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Citations

Oct 7, 2015·Frontiers in Plant Science·Ian J GlasspoolLongyi Shao
Jun 8, 2018·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Jordan BestwickMark A Purnell

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