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1.
《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2023,134(3):269-275
An isolated jaw fragment from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Cambridge Greensand Member of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation previously identified as a cestraciontid shark fin spine is referred to the pterosaur clade Azhdarchoidea on account of its lateral and occlusal foramina and edentuly. The specimen differs from the azhdarchoid Ornithostoma sedgwicki from the same deposit in having flat lateral surfaces and an acute dorsal/ventral apex. The specimen is similar in overall morphology to CAMSM B40085 from the same horizon and probably represents the corresponding jaw but from a different individual. Likely these specimens represent a new taxon but are considered too fragmentary to diagnose at present. A remarkably similar and distinctive morphology is found in unnamed pterosaur jaws from the Kem Kem Group (?Albian-Cenomanian) of Morocco, supporting the idea of faunal similarity between these two distant localities. 相似文献
2.
Determining the relationships of mid-Late Cretaceous African taxa is central to understanding the timing and resultant palaeobiogeographical patterns of Gondwanan fragmentation. The early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Kem Kem beds of southeastern Morocco preserve a diverse vertebrate fauna, including sauropod dinosaurs. Sauropod material includes the holotype of the rebbachisaurid diplodocoid Rebbachisaurus garasbae and fragmentary remains representing indeterminate titanosauriforms and rebbachisaurids. Here, we describe two new specimens from the Kem Kem beds. A dorsal neural arch with complex internal pneumaticity is tentatively attributed to a somphospondylan titanosauriform. A caudal vertebra possessing several rebbachisaurid synapomorphies is excavated by a large and pervasive lateral pneumatic foramen, a feature undocumented in other rebbachisaurids. However, caudal vertebrae are currently unknown for the sympatric R. garasbae, so this element could be referable to that taxon or a second, previously unknown, rebbachisaurid species. Interestingly, this new caudal vertebra displays a mosaic of features otherwise restricted to limaysaurine or nigersaurine rebbachisaurids, suggesting a placement basal to these clades, which is the position usually recovered for R. garasbae in phylogenetic analyses. A review of the mid-Cretaceous African sauropod fossil record removes the Cretaceous record of dicraeosaurids from Africa, restricting this clade to a single post-Jurassic occurrence in Argentina. All diagnostic sauropod remains can be attributed to titanosauriforms or rebbachisaurids. Whereas rebbachisaurids were seemingly restricted to northwestern Africa and disappeared post-Cenomanian, titanosauriforms were widespread across the African continent and survived until the latest Cretaceous. The development of the mid-Cretaceous Trans-Saharan Seaway might have acted as a dispersal barrier for rebbachisaurids and other vertebrate groups. In contrast, titanosauriforms might have been able to cross this barrier, but it is possible that they were also unable to disperse, and that northwestern African titanosauriforms were not closely related to taxa from the rest of the African continent. New materials and a better understanding of titanosaur interrelationships will be crucial in teasing these scenarios apart. 相似文献
3.
Fossil snakes are relatively well represented in the Upper Cretaceous of northern Africa, with material known from Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Niger. The Moroccan Kem Kem beds have yielded a particularly diverse snake assemblage, with Simoliophiidae, Madtsoiidae, ?Nigerophiidae and several unnamed taxa co-occurring. These fossils are important for our understanding of the early evolutionary history of snakes, and may shed light on the ecology and initial diversification of basal snakes. We describe a new taxon, Norisophis begaa gen. et sp. nov., from the Kem Kem beds of Begaa, in southeast Morocco. It is characterised by a marked interzygapophyseal constriction, parazygantral foramina, an incipient prezygapophyseal process, and an anterio-posteriorly short centrum. Several characteristics shared with Najash, Seismophis, Madtsoiidae, and Coniophis suggest that Norisophis is a stem ophidian. N. begaa further increases the diversity and disparity of snakes within the Kem Kem beds, supporting the hypothesis that Africa was a mid-Cretaceous hotspot for snake diversity. 相似文献
4.
In this study, we erect Sauroniops pachytholus gen. et sp. nov., a large-bodied theropod dinosaur from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Morocco, on the basis of an almost complete frontal showing a unique combination of features including a naso–frontal suture extended along 40% of the frontal length, a thick dome in the anterolateral corner of the dorsal surface, a trapezoidal prefrontal facet that is restricted to the anterodorsal margin of the lateral surface of the frontal with no participation in the orbital roof and separated from the lacrimal facet by a narrow vertical lamina, a hypertrophied ‘D-shaped’ lacrimal facet that is four times the anterior depth of the postorbital facet, and a raised posteromedial margin of the dorsal surface describing a saddle with the anterolateral dome and confluent with a series of anteromedial rugosities. Phylogenetic analysis found robust support for placing Sauroniops among the basal carcharodontosaurids and related to Eocarcharia, showed that some of the unusual features of the new theropod were convergently acquired by abelisaurids, and revealed a mosaic pattern in the evolution of the carcharodontosaurid skull table. The frontals of Sauroniops and Carcharodontosaurus, both from the ‘Kem Kem compound assemblage’ of Morocco, show comparable size but differ in the extent of the naso–frontal articulation, the shape and disposition of the prefrontal and lacrimal articulations, the development of dorsal ornamentation and the morphology of the supratemporal fossa. Among carcharodontosaurids, the skull table developed unique configurations among each lineage and appears diagnostic at the species-level. The dome-like frontal in Sauroniops may indicate head-butting behaviour in this taxon or evolved for visual display. 相似文献
5.
Christian Meister André Piuz Lionel Cavin Larbi Boudad Flavio Bacchia El M. Ettachfini M. Benyoucef 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2017,10(1):1
On the basis of nine lithostratigraphical profiles, 23 cephalopods taxa (nautilus and ammonites) are described from the Preafrican Trough and the Kem Kem region. Among them, a new species is proposed: Spathites (Jeanrogericeras) asflaensis nov. sp. This fauna is placed in its biostratigraphical framework and correlated with the standard zonation of the late Cenomanian–early Turonian. Moreover, stratigraphic correlations are proposed for the whole Maghreb from the Tarfaya Basin in the west to central Tunisia in the east. Selected taxa reveal the paleogeographical context of the western Tethys; a complex distribution of emerged areas and epicontinental seas impacted by an important marine trangression that constantly modified the costaline. 相似文献
6.
The recently found Gara Sbaa florule of southeastern Morocco comes from distinctive carbonate lamellites with abundant fish fauna above the terrestrial/paralic Kem Kem sequence and correlated with the basal horizon of the open shelf carbonate Akrabou Formation. It is a “mixed” assemblage of ferns and gymnosperms of “Wealden aspect” associated with relatively advanced angiosperms, suggesting floristic exchanges between the insular land masses of northern Africa and southern Europe. The climatic conditions are inferred to have been similar to the mildly dry subtropical climate of the western Canary Islands. New taxa of aquatic angiosperms Garasbahia fexuosa Krassilov et Bacchia gen. et sp nov. and a leaf mine Troponoma constricta Krassilov, sp. nov. are described. 相似文献
7.
The informally called ‘Continental intercalaire’ is a series of continental and brackish deposits that outcrops in several regions of North Africa. The age of the series is not well-constrained, but its upper part, visible in the ‘Kem Kem beds’ in Morocco and in Bahariya in Egypt, is regarded as early Cenomanian in age. Spinosaurid remains are an important component of this series, but records of this dinosaur are surprisingly rare in Algerian localities of the ‘Continental intercalaire’. Here, we describe a vertebrate assemblage from two localities, Kénadsa and Menaguir, situated in the Guir basin, Western Algeria. The assemblage comprises hybodont sharks, sarcopterygian fishes, ray-finned fishes, turtles, crocodiles and dinosaurs. Among the latter, only teeth of theropods have been recovered and 94% belong to Spinosaurus. The assemblage is taxonomically very similar to the Moroccan and Egyptian assemblages mentioned above. This study: 1) suggests a likely early Cenomanian age for the Guir basin deposits containing the assemblage; 2) provides a new evidence of the homogeneity of the early Cenomanian vertebrate fauna throughout North Africa; and 3) confirms the overabundance of theropod dinosaurs, especially spinosaurs, in the assemblage showing a possible shortcut in the vertebrate food chain. The northern most locality, Menaguir, shows sedimentological and ichnological evidence of marine influences indicating that the palaeoenvironment shows spatial heterogeneities. 相似文献
8.
The Sphagesauridae is a family of Crocodyliformes exclusively known for the Brazilian Late Cretaceous Bauru Basin. This lineage reveals how diverse was the morphology and ecology of terrestrial Crocodyliformes during the Late Cretaceous of Gondwana. Here is described Armadillosuchus arrudai gen. et sp. nov., a sphagesaurid that presents some mammal-like morphological features, such as propalinal and alternate unilateral jaw occlusion pattern and heavy body armor, composed of a rigid shield and mobile-banded section as in extant armadillos (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae). These unusual morphological features contrast to the double row of osteoderms observed on the closest relatives of A. arrudai. As its mammal analogs, A. arrudai presents some evidence of fossoriality and an exclusive terrestrial life style in contrast to the extant alligatorids and crocodylids. 相似文献
9.
During the latest Cretaceous, distinct dinosaur faunas were found in Laurasia and Gondwana. Tyrannosaurids, hadrosaurids, and ceratopsians dominated in North America and Asia, while abelisaurids and titanosaurians dominated in South America, India, and Madagascar. Little is known about dinosaur faunas from the latest Cretaceous of Africa, however. Here, a new abelisaurid theropod, Chenanisaurus barbaricus, is described from the upper Maastrichtian phosphates of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco, North Africa on the basis of a partial dentary and isolated teeth. Chenanisaurus is both one of the largest abelisaurids, and one of the youngest known African dinosaurs. Along with previously reported titanosaurian remains, Chenanisaurus documents the persistence of a classic Gondwanan abelisaurid-titanosaurian fauna in mainland Africa until just prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. The animal is unusual both in terms of its large size and the unusually short and robust jaw. Although it resembles South American carnotaurines in having a deep, bowed mandible, phylogenetic analysis suggests that Chenanisaurus may represent a lineage of abelisaurids that is distinct from those previously described from the latest Cretaceous of South America, Indo-Madagascar, and Europe, consistent with the hypothesis that the fragmentation of Gondwana led to the evolution of endemic dinosaur faunas during the Late Cretaceous. 相似文献
10.
David M. Martill Nizar IbrahimPaulo M. Brito Lahssen BaiderSamir Zhouri Robert LoveridgeDarren Naish Richard Hing 《Cretaceous Research》2011,32(4):433-446
Laminated, dolomitised marine limestones within a transgressive fluvio-lagoonal-carbonate platform sequence at Gara Sbaa in the Kem Kem region of south eastern Morocco yield well preserved marine fishes and crustaceans. A rarer terrestrial component includes delicate fern fronds, insects and a lizard. Sedimentological structures and stratigraphic context indicate initial shallow waters with in a carbonate lagoon with benthic microbial mats followed by deepening. High precision dating has yet to be accomplished, but a Late Cenomanian or Early Turonian age is indicated on the basis of faunal and sequence-stratigraphic considerations. The fish assemblage has affinities with mid-Cretaceous ichthyofaunas in South America and Lebanon, including taxa in common at generic level. 相似文献
11.
A new ichthyofauna from southeastern Morocco, comprising five forms, is briefly discussed. The faunal composition differs from the Early Cenomanian Kem Kem and Early Turonian Goulmima assemblages, but is close to that from Jebel Tselfat. We propose a Late Cenomanian age for the new fauna and that from Jebel Tselfat. The evolution of these fish assemblages shows the Moroccan fish faunas to have been related to those from South America until at least the Early Turonian. Central Tethyan influence on faunas seems to have been restricted to a short period of time during the beginning of the Late Cenomanian transgressive phase. 相似文献
12.
A new species of Pluridens (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the upper Campanian of Southern Nigeria
The Upper Cretaceous of Africa has produced a diverse fauna of mosasaurs, including the highly specialized, long-jawed Pluridens. The type of Pluridens walkeri comes from the Maastrichtian Farin-Doutchi Formation of Niger, with a second, referred specimen coming from the Campanian section of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Nkporo Shale near Calabar, in southern Nigeria. Comparisons of this referred specimen with the holotype suggest that it represents a distinct and more primitive species. The Calabar jaw resembles P. walkeri in being long and narrow anteriorly with a shallow subdental shelf, and in having small, numerous, recurved teeth with medially positioned replacement pits. However, it lacks many of the derived features that characterize Pluridens walkeri, such as the extremely long and straight jaw, the extreme lateral protrusion and subcircular section of the dentary, strong transverse expansion of the dental thecae, and extreme reduction and increase in number of the teeth. The Calabar Pluridens is therefore referred to a new species, Pluridens calabaria. Following recent studies, Pluridens is considered to represent a highly derived member of the Halisaurinae. The marked differences between the Campanian and Maastrichtian species of the genus underscore the rapid pace of mosasaur evolution during the Cretaceous. 相似文献
13.
Michael J. Benton 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2011,122(1):25-33
A new jaw from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) Otter Sandstone Formation of Devon confirms the existence of a derived archosaur (avesuchian). Numerous isolated teeth and vertebrae had already suggested the presence of archosaurs in the Otter Sandstone Formation, presumed predators on the fauna of temnospondyls, procolophonids, and rhynchosaurs, but the new fossil is the first to show some diagnostic characters. Other elements in the same block as the jaw, but not necessarily from the same animal, include a possible skull or pelvic bone, a slender long bone, a small tooth (perhaps prolacertiform), and two presumed archosaur dermal scutes. An additional scute is present, as well as the probable distal end of a pubis, perhaps from a large poposauroid archosaur like the Anisian-age Bromsgroveia or Arizonasaurus. The jaw and pubis represent animals of very different sizes, some 0.8 m and 3 m long in estimated body length respectively. 相似文献
14.
列举并尝试对比了非洲早白垩世脊椎动物化石的主要产地。晚侏罗世(坦桑尼亚的敦达古鲁基默里奇期提塘期)至白垩纪最早期(南非的阿尔戈阿盆地凡兰吟期)的组合中含有剑龙、腕龙和梁龙,到前阿普特期(欧特里沃期巴列姆期?)被另一组合所取代。这一更年轻的组合中含有重爪龙亚科棘龙类、大头鳄类鳄鱼Sarcosuchus以及大型禽龙,它们主要来自尼日尔(ElRhaz组和喀麦隆(Koum组),部分来自利比亚(Cabao组)和突尼斯(Douiret组),后两组中还含有鲨鱼Priohybodus ar ambourgi。阿普特期(?)至早阿尔必期组合中仍含有禽龙,但是棘龙科棘龙类取代了重爪龙亚科。早塞诺曼期组合(Bahariya,Kem Kem)以恐龙Spinosaurus、Carcharodonto saurus,鲨鱼(Onchopris tisnumidus)和鳄鱼(利比亚鳄类、无棘腔鳄类)为特征。由此可知,中非的一些原先被认为是早白垩世的地层(坦桑尼亚的Galula组、马拉维的含恐龙层)为晚白垩世。脊椎动物化石在非洲陆相地层的对比中具有重要作用。 相似文献
15.
An unusual jaw found in a calcite nodule from Collishaw Point, Hornby Island, British Columbia (off the east coast of Vancouver Island) represents the first definitive pterosaur found in British Columbia, and the first istiodactylid from Canada. 相似文献
16.
Seven coleoid jaws recovered from Santonian to lower Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) strata in Hokkaido, Japan were taxonomically studied. Based on the comparison with the jaws of modern and fossil coleoids, six of the seven jaw fossils are referred to the following two genera and three species, including one possible new species: Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. yokotai of the order Vampyromorpha, and Paleocirroteuthis sp. nov. (?) of the order Cirroctopodida. The other single lower jaw is seemingly similar to those of modern octopods and teuthids with respect to the shape of the inner lamella, but its order-level assignment could not be determined because of its imperfect preservation. N. jeletzkyi has been described in the Upper Cretaceous fore-arc basin deposits in Hokkaido (Yezo Group) and Vancouver Island, Canada (Nanaimo Group), whereas N. yokotai occurs only in the Yezo Group. These findings, complemented by previous reports of coleoid jaws, gladii, and phragmocones from the Yezo and Nanaimo Groups, demonstrate that a highly diversified, non-belemnitid coleoid fauna including large teuthids had already appeared during the post-Albian Late Cretaceous, in the North Pacific region. 相似文献
17.
Roy E. Smith David M. Martill David M. Unwin Lorna Steel 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2021,132(1):110-126
A re-examination of fossil material from the Late Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand Member (CGM) of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation revealed a number of new specimens of edentulous pterosaur jaw fragments previously identified as shark fin spines and fish jaws and accessioned under the epithet ‘cestraciontid finray’ and ‘jaws of fish’. These are now recognised as pterosaurian jaw tips and referred to Ornithostoma sedgwicki Seeley, 1891 and Azhdarchoidea indet. This material increases the diversity of edentulous pterosaurs from the CGM.The edentulous pterosaur Ornithostoma sedgwicki Seeley, 1891 from the Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand of eastern England is reviewed. The holotype specimen is confirmed as a fragment of a premaxilla/maxilla of a non-tapejarid azhdarchoid on account of the conspicuous curvature of the dorsal and occlusal margins posteriorly and the presence of small neural foramina on the lateral margins. Neural foramina are not seen on jaws of members of the Pteranodontia, a group to which O. sedgwicki was included previously. The referral of O. sedgwicki to Azhdarchoidea eliminates the single known Lower Cretaceous occurrence of Pteranodontidae, restricting the temporal range of this taxon to the Upper Cretaceous. Postcranial material referred to O. sedgwicki from the type horizon is regarded as indeterminate Pterosauria. 相似文献
18.
Ceratopsians were herbivorous dinosaurs that dominated many of the terrestrial ecosystems in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous. The bizarre variety of skulls and lower jaw morphologies as well as the inferred ecological abundance of many species in this clade indicate that Ceratopsia was a successful group. Here we analyzed 126 lower jaws from 50 ceratopsian species, using two-dimensional geometric morphometrics and finite element analysis to investigate differences in shape and structural performance of this part of the feeding apparatus across Ceratopsia. Morphological differences in lower jaws across ceratopsian clades are said to originate from feeding adaptation.Our results show that the stress (physical loadings modeled in response to biting) in lower jaws was quite similar between “basal” and “derived” taxa, whereas major differences among clades occur for stress values associated with the coronoid process. The basal ceratopsians Hualianceratops and Yinlong had a highly stressed and primitive lower jaw, indicating that those animals may have fed on relatively soft foliage and fruits. A similar condition was found for basal neoceratopsians and protoceratopsids. Psittacosaurids possessed a well-integrated and compact lower jaw able to withstand high stress, at the cost of having a highly stressed coronoid process. Leptoceratopsids were characterized by the opposite condition. Taxa such as Leptoceratops, Prenoceratops, Zhuchengceratops and Cerasinops appear to have had a comparatively efficient feeding apparatus. Ceratopsidae represents the clade with the most efficient masticatory apparatus within Ceratopsia, even if the horizontal ramus of the lower jaw appears less able to withstand high levels of stress as compared with other ceratopsians. Additionally, we found the dentary and surangular–angular complex co-evolved to generate a masticatory apparatus able to withstand high stress, particularly in Protoceratopsidae and Triceratopsini. The major phenotypic evolutionary rate and morphological changes occurred during the mid- to Late Cretaceous, when intense climate change and angiosperm diversification could have affected the evolution of ecological diversity and feeding biomechanics in Ceratopsia. 相似文献
19.
Matthieu Moreau Christopher J. Duffin Claudia Hildebrandt Deborah Hutchinson Adam Parker Simon Carpenter Michael J. Benton 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2021,132(2):174-187
The famous Rhaetian bone bed (Late Triassic, 205 Ma) is well known because it marks a major switch in depositional environment from terrestrial red beds to fully marine conditions throughout the UK and much of Europe. The bone bed is generally cemented and less than 10 cm thick. However, we report here an unusual case from Saltford, near Bath, S.W. England where the bone bed is unconsolidated and up to nearly 1 m thick. The exposure of the basal beds of the Westbury Formation, Penarth Group includes a bone bed containing a diverse Rhaetian marine microvertebrate fauna dominated by sharks, actinopterygian fishes and reptiles. Despite the unusual sedimentary character of the bone bed, we find similar proportions of taxa as in other basal Rhaetian bone beds (55–59 % Lissodus teeth, 13–16 % Rhomphaiodon teeth, 12–14 % Severnichthys teeth, 6–9% Gyrolepis teeth, 3–4% undetermined sharks’ teeth, 1–3% undetermined bony fish teeth, and < 1% of each of Hybodus, Parascylloides, and Sargodon), the only differences being in the proportions of Rhomphaiodon teeth, which can represent 30–40 % of specimens elsewhere. This suggests that taphonomic bias of varying Rhaetian bone beds may be comparable despite different sedimentary settings, and that the proportions of taxa say something about their original proportions in the ecosystem. 相似文献
20.
The exquisite transitional fossil Tetrapodophis – described as a stem-snake with four small legs from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil – has been widely considered a burrowing animal, consistent with recent studies arguing that snakes had fossorial ancestors. We reevaluate the ecomorphology of this important taxon using a multivariate morphometric analysis and a reexamination of the limb anatomy. Our analysis shows that the body proportions are unusual and similar to both burrowing and surface-active squamates. We also show that it exhibits striking and compelling features of limb anatomy, including enlarged first metapodials and reduced tarsal/carpal ossification – that conversely are highly suggestive of aquatic habits, and are found in marine squamates. The morphology and inferred ecology of Tetrapodophis therefore does not clearly favour fossorial over aquatic origins of snakes. 相似文献