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[dinosaur] Sauropod fossils and teeth from mid-Cretaceous of North Africa




Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

A new paper:

Femke M. Holwerda (2019)
Sauropod dinosaur fossils from the Kem Kem and extended 'Continental Intercalaire' of North Africa: a review.
Journal of African Earth Sciences: Article 103738 (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103738
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X19303930

Highlights

Synthesis of all North African mid-Cretaceous sauropod occurrences
Comprehensive connection of 'Continental Intercalaire' throughout the region
Palaeobiogeographical implications reveal mobility of sauropods, especially between North Africa and Southern Europe, as well as between Africa and South America

Abstract

The Cretaceous (likely Aptian-Cenomanian) Kem Kem beds of Morocco are famous for their fossil-richness, including theropods, and several sauropod body fossils, such as Rebbachisaurus garasbae, as well as isolated sauropod teeth. Deposits from this particular age, however, stretch across Algeria and Tunisia, with possibly contemporaneous fossiliferous beds also being known from Egypt and Niger. Although the sediments of North Africa have yielded more complete sauropod specimens in recent years dated to either Cenomanian or Campanian-Maastrichtian, in general, these sites are not well-known. A recent study on isolated sauropod teeth from Morocco and Algeria revealed that a diverse sauropod fauna existed, and, moreover, evidence has been found of sauropod migration from Africa to Europe in the Cretaceous. In order to provide a better overview of the sauropod presence in the Albian-Cenomanian of North Africa, an overview of all sauropod material known from this time is necessary. Therefore, several previous reports on sauropod fossils and teeth from the Kem Kem and the 'Continental Intercalaire' of North Africa are here reviewed and summarized.

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