A new genus and species of dwarf lambeosaurine hadrosaurid has come to light in Moroccan rocks dating to the Late Cretaceous epoch, some 68 million years ago.
Late Maastrichtian dinosaurs of the latest Cretaceous Phosphates of Morocco. Image credit: Longrich et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53447-9.
“Duckbill dinosaurs, or hadrosaurids, were highly successful herbivores that staged a major radiation in the Late Cretaceous epoch,” said University of Bath paleontologist Nicholas Longrich and his colleagues.
“Hadrosaurids evolved in North America in the Turonian age (94-90 million years ago), before dispersing into Asia and Europe.”
“The presence of a hadrosaurid in Africa is perplexing, because Africa had been isolated from Laurasia by deep seaways since the mid-Jurassic, while hadrosaurids evolved in the Late Cretaceous.”
“The resolution to the paradox appears to be that duckbills swam or rafted to Africa.”
The newly-described hadrosaurid species lived in Africa during the Late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, around 68 million years ago.
Named Minqaria bata, the dinosaur was relatively small, approximately 3.5 m (11.5 feet) long.
The species comes from the phosphate mines at Sidi Chennane, Morocco, the same locality that produced the lambeosaurine hadrosaurid Ajnabia odysseus, and is based on a partial skull.
It belongs to Arenysaurini, a clade of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids endemic to Europe and North Africa.
“Minqaria bata is distinguished from Ajnabia odysseus by the shape of the maxilla, which has a more ventrally placed jugal facet, a curved ectopterygoid ridge, a more sinusoidal toothrow, and neurovascular foramina arranged in a line,” the paleontologists said.
“However, the new species closely resembles Ajnabia odysseus and other arenysaurins in its small size, and many anatomical features.”
Skull elements of Minqaria bata. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Longrich et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53447-9.
The researchers also unearthed the fossilized remains of two other hadrosaurids at Sidi Daoui and Mrah Lahrach sites.
“A humerus and a femur belong to larger hadrosaurids, 6 m (20 feet) long, implying at least three species coexisted,” they said.
The team’s analysis suggests the hadrosaurid group Lambeosaurinae initially diversified in Asia, then saw dispersals into North America.
Dispersal from Asia into Europe was followed by dispersal into North Africa. Multiple dispersals from Europe to Africa seem less parsimonious than a single dispersal, but are not impossible, particularly given the distinctive morphologies of Ajnabia odysseus and Minqaria bata.
“The diversity of hadrosaurids in Europe and Africa suggests a dispersal-driven radiation, with lambeosaurines diversifying to take advantage of low ornithischian diversity,” the scientists said.
“African lambeosaurines are small compared to North American and Asia hadrosaurids however, perhaps due to competition with titanosaurians.”
“Hadrosaurids are unknown from eastern Africa, suggesting Moroccan hadrosaurids may be part of a distinct insular fauna, and represent an island radiation.”
The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports.
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N.R. Longrich et al. 2024. A new small duckbilled dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Morocco and dinosaur diversity in the Late Maastrichtian of North Africa. Sci Rep 14, 3665; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53447-9
Source : Breaking Science News