[Paleontology • 2018] Large-sized Theropod Spinosaurus: An Important Component of the Carnivorous Dinosaur Fauna in southern Continents During the Cretaceous ---ScRaBBlE

Semi-aquatic paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Spinosaurus dinosaur during early Late Cretaceous:
 (A) Spinosaurus; (B) Mawsonia coelacanth fishes

in Candeiro, Gil & de Castro, 2018. 

 DOI: 10.1051/bsgf/2018010 

 (drawing Luciano Vidal)

Abstract 

The Early Cretaceous of North Africa has Spinosaurinae dinosaur remains such as Spinosaurus recorded in Algeria (Guir Basin, Kem Kem beds), Egypt (Bahariya Formation), Morocco (Kem Kem beds), and Tunisia (Ain El Guettar Formation). Until now, three possible Spinosaurus species were identified: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Spinosaurus sp. and Spinosaurus “B”. The occurrence of this genus in the Albian-Cenomanian rocks of Africa suggests that the temporal and geographic distribution of these spinosaurines is the largest one among all genera and species of megapredators from the middle Cretaceous of Africa. The fossil record of Spinosaurus from the Albian to the Cenomanian shows a 20 million year persistence of this genus in Gondwanan ecosystems.

Keywords: theropod dinosaur, distribution, Early Cretaceous, Africa

Fig. 3 Most complete Spinosaurus species skulls from early Late Cretaceous formations from Northern Africa.
 Spinosaurus aegyptiacus (from Stromer, 1915), BSP 1912 – dentary, A in lateral and B in dorsal views.
Spinosaurus cf. aegyptiacus (from Buffetaut and Ouaja, 2002), BM231 – rostral part of left dentary, C, in lateral and in D dorsal views.
 Spinosaurus marrocanus (nomen dubium) (Taquet and Russell, 1998) MNHM SAM 124 – left maxilary, E in lateral and F dorsal views.
Spinosaurus cf. S. aegyptiacus (from Dal Sasso et al., 2005) MSNM V4047 – left maxilary, G in lateral in dorsal view.

Fig. 5. Semi-aquatic paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Spinosaurus dinosaur during early Late Cretaceous: (A) Spinosaurus; (B) Mawsonia coelacanth fishes; (C) Araripemys turtle (drawing Luciano Vidal).

 Remarks: 

The middle Cretaceous strata of North Africa preserved an important record of the theropod Spinosaurus. Although their fossil remains are usually fragmented, most specimens show diagnostic characters of the genus Spinosaurus that are especially present in their conical and non-serrated teeth. The fossil record of this genus in North Africa shows a restricted geographic distribution between the Albian and the Cenomanian periods. Yet, when we consider their temporal distribution, it suggests that Spinosaurus had a significant geological history of nearly 20 million years, a lifespan unknown for other African megapredators species (e.g., Carcharodontosaurus – 18.5 mya [Candeiro et al., 2018]). The geological evidences indicate that Africa was an island during the main period of occurrence of this genus. The faunal composition of the spinosaurinae that inhabited the eastern coast of Africa is broadly comparable with the Cenomanian fossil records from western Africa, supporting the relative homogeneous composition of the taxon in these areas during this period. Additional studies and future field prospections in other localities could eventually reveal a wider distribution of this genus in other regions of Africa (e.g., Niger, Sudan) or even in western Europe and northern South America.

Carlos Roberto A. Candeiro, Lívia Motta Gil and Pedro Ernesto Pontes de Castro. 2018. Large-sized Theropod Spinosaurus: An Important Component of the Carnivorous Dinosaur Fauna in southern Continents During the Cretaceous. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 189 (4-6): 15.  DOI: 10.1051/bsgf/2018010

Résumé – Spinosaurus (théropode de grande taille) : une composante importante de la faune de dinosaures carnivores des continents méridionaux au cours du Crétacé. Le Crétacé inférieur d’Afrique du Nord renferme des restes de dinosaures spinosaurinés, tels que Spinosaurus répertorié en Algérie (Bassin du Guir, Kem Kem beds), en Égypte (Formation Bahariya), au Maroc (Kem Kem beds) et en Tunisie (Formation Ain El Guettar). Jusqu’à ce jour, trois espèces de spinosaure sont reconnues : Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Spinosaurus sp. et Spinosaurus “B”. La présence de ce genre dans les terrains albocénomaniens d’Afrique suggère que la répartition temporelle et géographique de ces spinosaurinés est la plus étendue de tous les genres et espèces de méga-prédateurs du Crétacé moyen d’Afrique. Le registre fossile de Spinosaurus, depuis l’Albien jusqu’au Cénomanien, indique une présence de 20 millions d’années pour ce genre dans les écosystèmes gondwaniens. 

Mots clés : théropode dinosaure / distribution / Crétacé inférieur / Afrique

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