Microtuban
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Microtuban Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 99.6–96 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Neoazhdarchia |
| Genus: |
†Microtuban Elgin & Frey, 2011 |
| Species: | †M. altivolans |
| Binomial name | |
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Microtuban altivolans Elgin & Frey 2011 |
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Microtuban is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of northern Lebanon.
Microtuban is known only from a partially preserved skeleton lacking the skull, holotype SMNK PAL 6595. It was acquired from a local fossil dealer by the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe and was, as can be deduced from the qualities of the stone matrix, collected in the locality of Hjoûla in a marine layer of the Sannine Formation, dating to the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 99.6-96 million years ago. The fossil dealer however, indicated it came from a quarry at nearby Hâqel. Regardless, it is only the second pterosaur fossil found in Lebanon and a rare example of a pterosaur from the African continental plate, to which the area in Cretaceous times belonged. In this period the site was located hundreds of miles from the mainland coastline.
The specimen consists of the last cervical and first dorsal vertebrae, a shoulder girdle, the left wing and fragments of the hindlimbs. It represents an immature individual. Many bones are broken but the whole is still articulated. This was explained as being caused by a collision or a bite by a predator, just before or after death, after which the carcass quickly sank to the sea bottom.
Microtuban was named by Ross A. Elgin and Eberhard Frey in 2011 and the type species is Microtuban altivolans. The generic name is derived from Greek μικρός, mikros, "little", and Arab التنين, tuban, "dragon" or basilisk, also referring to Thuban, the ancient Polar Star in the constellation Draco. The specific name is derived from Latin altus, "high", and volare, "to fly".
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