Name:
Leptostomia
(slim mouth).
Phonetic: Lep-to-sto-me-ah.
Named By: R. E. Smith, D. M. Martill,
A. Kao, S. Zouhri & N. R. Longrich - 2020.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiroidea, Azhdarchoidea?
Species: L. begaaensis
(type).
Diet: Uncertain/Insectivore?
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: Morocco - Kem Kem Group.
Ifezouane Formation.
Time period: Albian/Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and jaw bones.
Leptostomia
is a genus of pterosaur
that lived in North Africa during the
Cretaceous, possibly at the boundary of the early and late periods of
the Cretaceous. Leptostomia is thought to have
been a small
pterosaur, possibly possessing a very slim elongated beak. This
might have been a feeding adaptation for probing into soft coastal
sands and mud flats at low tide to hunt for invertebrates such as worms.
Further reading
- A long-billed, possible probe-feeding pterosaur
(Pterodactyloidea: ?Azhdarchoidea) from the mid-Cretaceous of
Morocco, North Africa. - Cretaceous Research. 118. - R.
E. Smith, D. M. Martill, A. Kao, S. Zouhri &
N. R. Longrich - 2020.