New titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur material from the Cenomanian of Morocco

[Jay <jayp.nair@yahoo.com>]

Newish paper from earlier this year, but not yet mentioned (?) on the DML:


"Lamanna, M.C., Hasegawa, Y., 2014. New titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur 
material from the Cenomanian of Morocco: implications for paleoecology and 
sauropod diversity in the Late Cretaceous of north Africa. Bulletin of Gunma 
Museum of Natural History 18, 1–19.

Titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs are widely regarded as the most diverse and 
abundant large herbivores in Cretaceous paleoecosystems of Gondwanan 
landmasses. Nevertheless, remains of these animals are scarce in Late 
Cretaceous deposits of continental Africa and the then-conjoined Arabian 
Peninsula. Here we describe two new titanosauriform fossils from the lower 
Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) 'Kem Kem beds' of Morocco that improve our 
understanding of the morphology and paleoecology of Afro-Arabian members of 
this clade. One specimen is a nearly complete, well-preserved anterior dorsal 
vertebra that pertains to a large-bodied member of Somphospondyli, possibly to 
a basal titanosaurian. The second specimen is a partial ischium that is not 
identifiable beyond Somphospondyli; nevertheless, the element is significant in 
exhibiting numerous tooth marks that we attribute to a very large carnivorous 
dinosaur, probably a carcharodontosaurid or Spinosaurus. These
 feeding traces constitute direct evidence that sauropods were a food source 
for at least one African Late Cretaceous theropod. It is presently uncertain 
whether or not the new titanosauriform elements pertain to any of three named 
genera from the early Late Cretaceous of Africa (Aegyptosaurus, Paralititan, 
and Angolatitan), or whether they represent previously undescribed taxa."


The new material in this paper is described in excellent detail.