Abstract
The Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Morocco and equivalent beds in Algeria have produced a rich fossil assemblage, yielding, amongst others, isolated sauropod teeth, which can be used in species diversity studies. These Albian-Cenomanian (∼113-93.9 Ma) strata rarely yield sauropod body fossils, therefore, isolated teeth can help to elucidate the faunal assemblages from North Africa, and their relations with those of contemporaneous beds and geographically close assemblages. Eighteen isolated sauropod teeth from three localities (Erfoud and Taouz, Morocco, and Algeria) are studied here, to assess whether the teeth can be ascribed to a specific clade, and whether different tooth morphotypes can be found in the samples. Two general morphotypes are found, based on enamel wrinkling and general tooth morphology. Morphotype I, with mainly rugose enamel wrinkling, pronounced carinae, lemon-shaped to (sub)cylindrical cross-section and mesiodistal tapering towards an apical tip, shows affinities to titanosauriforms and titanosaurs. Morphotype II, characterized by more smooth enamel, cylindrical cross-section, rectangular teeth with no apical tapering and both labial and lingual wear facets, shows similarities to rebbachisaurids. Moreover, similarities are found between these northwest African tooth morphotypes, and tooth morphotypes from titanosaurs and rebbachisaurids from both contemporaneous finds from north and central Africa, as well as from the latest Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian, 83.6 Ma-66.0 Ma) of the Ibero-Armorican Island. These results support previous hypotheses from earlier studies on faunal exchange and continental connections between North Africa and Southern Europe in the Cretaceous.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e5925 |
| Journal | PeerJ |
| Volume | 2018 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2018 |
Funding
Oliver Rauhut (BSPG Munich, Germany), Christian Klug and Torsten Scheyer (PIMUZ Zürich, Switzerland) are profoundly thanked for kindly allowing us to use material from their collections. We are indebted to Enrico Schwabe (ZSM Munich, Germany) for his kind assistance in SEM imaging. Many thanks also to Daniela Schwarz and Jens Koch (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany) for allowing us to use their Giraffatitan specimen. We are grateful to Matt Dale and Charlie Underwood for their aid in Kem Kem palaeoecology. Jeff Liston kindly checked the English. The comments and recommendations of editor Kenneth de Baets, and reviewers Paul Barrett, Attila Ösi, and one anonymous reviewer, greatly improved this manuscript. This work was part of the BSc thesis of RM at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). Alejandro Blanco is supported by the program Axudas postdoutorais da Xunta de Galicia 2017—Modalidade A. Additional funding for Alejandro Blanco came from the Synthesys Project DE-TAF-7025 and from the program Axudas á investigación da UDC 2017, 2018. The other authors received no funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Keywords
- Africa
- Diversity
- Europe
- Late Cretaceous
- Teeth
- Titanosauria