Alcione
Name: Alcione
(named after the mythic figure Alcyone).
Phonetic: Al-se-o-ne.
Named By: N. R. Longrich, D. M. Martill
& B. Andres - 2018.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Nyctosauridae.
Species: A. elainus (type).
Diet: Piscivore?
Size: Estimated wingspan of 2 meters.
Known locations: Morocco.
Time period: Late Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains.
Alcione
is a genus of small nyctosaurid pterosaur
that lived in North Africa
during the late Cretaceous. Alcione is noted for
having very short
wings, something that could aid either flapping flight, or perhaps
streamlining for use after entering water. This feature combined with
the knowledge of the Alcione fossils coming from a
marine environment
have yielded the idea that Alcione may have lived
and hunted in a
similar fashion to a modern kingfisher.
Alcione
was named after Alcyone, a figure in Ancient Greek Mythology, who
was the daughter of King Aeolus and turned into a kingfisher after her
death.
Further reading
- Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction
of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. - PLoS
Biology 16(3):e2001663:1-38. - N. R. Longrich, D. M.
Martill & B. Andres - 2018.
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