Pterosaurs stayed diverse until the very end

[Halichoeres]

Until very recently pretty much all the pterosaurs known from the Maastrichtian (the latest part of the Cretaceous) were azhdarchids. A new site from the Maastrichtian of North Africa shows 7 (!!!) species of pterosaur, including the latest known pteranodontid and nyctosaurids.

Paper (open access): http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2001663

Unfortunately, while the remains are diagnosable, they don't give full pictures of the animals.

New genera:
Tethydraco: a humerus
Alcione: partial skeleton, no head on the holotype, although there is a mandible from a referred specimen
Simurghia: a humerus
Barbaridactylus: partial skeleton, no head

Also at the site: azhdarchid fragments referred to Phosphatodraco, and azhdarchid fragments similar to but not formally referred to Arambourgiana and Quetzalcoatlus.

[ITdactyl]

Thanks for sharing the link:
learned 3 things (2 of which surprised me)
1. That there are azhdarchid remains associated with marine environments.  So they weren't all just terrestrial stalkers - yay diversity.
2. pteranodontid and nyctosaurid wing configurations are quite different.  I always got the impression nyctosaurids (despite the crests and missing fingers) were just scaled down versions of pteranodon. 
3.  there's a giant hell creek azhdarchid that's [probably] not quetzalcoatlus. 


Hopefully findings like these also lead to more figures in unique (not spread eagle - sorry for the bird related term) poses.