Geo log i cal Quar terly, 2002, 46 (1): 97–100
Iso lated theropod teeth from the Cre ta ceous strata of Khouribga, Mo rocco
Grzegorz NIEDZWIEDZKI and Gerard GIERLIŃSKI
Niedźwiedzki G. and Gierliński G. (2002) — Iso lated theropod teeth from the Cre ta ceous strata of Khouribga, Mo rocco. Geol. Quart., 46 (1): 97–100. Warszawa.
Pred a tory di no saur (Theropoda) teeth are de scribed from Khouribga near Ca sa blanca (Ad-Dar al-Bajda) in north ern Mo rocco. A mor - pho log i cal study of spec i mens shows that two teeth rep re sent the fam ily Spinosauridae. A third tooth shows fea tures char ac ter is tic of the ge nus Carcharodontosaurus. These are the first finds of di no saurs from Khouribga.
Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, De part ment of Bi ol ogy, War saw Uni ver sity, Miecznikowa 1, PL-02-096 Warszawa, Po land, e-mail:
GrzegorzNiedzwiedzki@poczta.net-line.pl; Gerard Gierliński, Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute, Rakowiecka 4, PL-00-975 Warszawa, Po - land (re ceived: Sep tem ber 18, 2001; ac cepted: De cem ber 11, 2001).
Key words: Mo rocco, Cre ta ceous, Theropoda (Dinosauria), Carcharodontosauridae, Spinosauridae.
INTRODUCTION
Cre ta ceous di no saur re mains are re corded from sev eral lo - cal i ties in Mo rocco (Lavocat, 1954; Lapparent, 1960;
Monbaron, 1978; Dutuit and Ouazzou, 1980; Taquet, 1984;
Buffetaut, 1989a, b; Sereno et al., 1996; Rus sell, 1996; Jacobs et al., 1996; Kellner and Mader, 1997). Many spec i mens have been col lected, but most are still un des cribed.
The Geo log i cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute has a small col lec tion of di no saur fos sils from Cre ta ceous de - pos its of north ern Mo rocco. This col lec tion in cludes two
“crocodilian-like” teeth (spinosaurid teeth) and one Carcharodontosaurus saharicus tooth. Be cause of the scar city of spinosaurid re mains from Af rica and Carcharodontosaurus re mains from Mo rocco, a short de scrip tion of the ma te rial is pre sented here.
All of the spec i mens are from Cre ta ceous de pos its in Khouribga 150 km SE of Ca sa blanca (Ad-Dar al-Bajda), north - ern Mo rocco (Fig. 1) and were col lected from the same lo cal ity (Jastrzębski, pers. comm., 1997). Un for tu nately, spe cific lo ca - tion and de tailed strati graphic data are not avail able. Ma trix ad - her ing to the spec i mens shows that they were pre served in coarse
dark red sand stone. The strati graphic level of these spec i mens is Albian or Cenomanian. This is the gen eral age of strata out crop - ping in this area, the age of the Tegana For ma tion in the re gion of Ksar es Souk, where iso lated teeth of Spinosauridae have been found, and the biosratigraphic level Carcharodontosaurus.
SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY Superorder Dinosauria Owen, 1842
Or der Saurischia Seeley, 1888 Suborder Theropoda Marsh, 1881 Fam ily Spinosauridae Stromer, 1915
Ge nus Spinosaurus Stromer, 1915 Spinosaurus sp.
(Figs. 2, 3 and 5A, B)
The two spinosaurid teeth (MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 and MUZ
PIG 1674.II.2) are only slightly lat er ally com pressed and have
an oval trans verse sec tion. They are slightly curved lin gually
(Fig. 2). MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 (Fig. 2A) is the larger of the two
teeth (126 mm long, the base of the tooth mea sures 34 mm by
29 mm) and re tains part of the root. Spec i men MUZ PIG 1647.II.2 (Fig. 2B) is smaller (114 mm long, trans verse sec tion at the base 44 mm by 30 mm), has a bro ken tip, and re tains a sub stan tial part of the root. The me dial and lat eral crown sur - faces on the both teeth are or na mented with a se ries of low, lon - gi tu di nal ridges (Fig. 2C).
The teeth are dif fer ent from those of typ i cal tetanurans, which are com pressed lat er ally, re curved, unornamented in most cases, and have ser rated edges (Cur rie et al., 1990; Kellner, 1995, 1996; Abler, 1997; Sander, 1997). They are si milar to the teeth of the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus de scribed by Stromer (1915) and teeth de scribed by Kellner and Mader (1997), but are big ger (Fig. 4C). Teeth sim i lar to those of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus are found in Baryonyx walkeri (Charig and Milner, 1986, 1990) and Suchiomimus tenerensis (Sereno et al., 1998). How ever, Baryonyx and Suchiomimus teeth are ser - rated (Fig. 4A, B). This fea ture is not ob served in the spec i mens MUZ PIG 1674.II.1 and MUZ PIG 1674.II.2.
Spinosaurid teeth are also sim i lar to some crocodilian teeth, par tic u larly those of Sarcosuchus or re lated taxa. The spec i mens MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 and MUZ PIG 1674.II.2 dif fer from typ i cal crocodilian teeth in be ing com par a tively lon ger and nar rower.
Fam ily Carcharodontosauridae Stromer, 1931 Ge nus Carcharodontosaurus Stromer, 1931
Carcharodontosaurus saharicus Depéret and Savornin, 1927
(Figs. 5C and 6)
The Carcharodontosaurus tooth (MUZ PIG 1647.II.3) is 104 mm long. The pos te rior mar gin of the crown is only slightly re curved and be comes con vex to ward the crown tip.
The tooth has enamel or na men ta tion in clud ing trans verse bands and ar cu ate wrin kles near the crown mar gins (Fig. 6).
These tooth fea tures are found in maxillary teeth from the Carcharodontosaurus saharicus skull de scribed by Sereno et al. (1996) and iso lated Carcharodontosaurus teeth de scribed
98 Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki and Gerard Gierliński
Fig. 1. Lo ca tion of the Khouribga site in Mo rocco
Fig. 2. Iso lated spinosaurid (Spinosaurus sp.) teeth
The lat eral view: A — MUZ PIG 1647.II.1, B — MUZ PIG 1647.II.2; C — mag ni fied view of lat eral and me dial sur faces shows lon gi tu di nal ridges
Fig. 3. Trans verse sec tion in spec i men: A — MUZ PIG 1647.II.2, B — MUZ PIG 1647.II.1
Fig. 4. BMNH R9951 (holotype) Baryonyx walkeri (Charig and Milner, 1990): A — iso lated tooth in lin gual view, B — mag ni fied view of lat eral sur face mar gin; spec i men LINHM 001, spinosaurid tooth from the Ksar es Souk Prov ince, Mo rocco (Kellner and Mader, 1997), C — lin gual view
from west ern Al ge ria (Depéret and Savornin, 1927), Niger (Lapparent, 1960), Tu ni sia (Bouaziz et al., 1988) and Su dan (Werner, 1994).
DISCUSSION
The first re mains of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus were col lected and de scribed from the Baharîja Oasis in cen tral Egypt (Stromer, 1915, 1934). The Egyp tian spinosaurid ma te rial, in clud ing the holotype was de stroyed dur ing World War II (Buffetaut, 1989b).
New spinosaurid ma te rial has been re ported re cently from Niger and Al ge ria (Taquet, 1984; Sereno et al., 1998), Tu ni sia (Bouaziz et al., 1988), and Mo rocco (Taquet, 1984; Buffetaut, 1989a, b; Rus sell, 1996; Kellner and Mader, 1997).
Taquet (1984) re ported the pres ence of a pos si ble spinosaurid in the Kem Kem re gion of Mo rocco but did not de - scribe the ma te rial. The spinosaurid ma te rial de scribed by Buffetaut (1989a, b) in cluded an in com plete maxilla from con - ti nen tal red beds near the town of Taouz at the base of the Ha - ma da du Guir pla teau.
Rus sell (1996) de scribed new spe cies of Spinosaurus maroccanus from Tafilalt in south ern Mo rocco. Spinosaurid ma te rial from Tafilalt in cluded a me dian cer vi cal ver te brae, den ta ry frag ments and dor sal neu ral arch. Spinosaurid ma te rial de scribed by Kellner and Mader (1997) in cluded two teeth from the Ksar es Souk Prov ince.
The re mains of Carcharodontosaurus in Mo rocco were col lected from Ksar es Souk Prov ince (Monbaron, 1978), Hammada du Guir (Buffetaut, 1989a, b), Kem Kem (Lavocat, 1954; Sereno et al., 1996).
Theropod teeth de scribed herein are the first finds of di no - saur re mains at Khouribga and ex pand the re cord of di no saurs from Cre ta ceous de pos its of Mo rocco.
Iso lated theropod teeth from the Cre ta ceous strata of Khouribga, Mo rocco 99
Fig. 5. Teeth from Cre ta ceous strata of Khourigba, Mo rocco, housed in the Geo log i cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute, War saw A — MUZ PIG 1647.II.1, spinosaurid (Spinosaurus sp.); B — MUZ PIG 1647.II.2, spinosaurid (Spinosaurus sp.); C — MUZ PIG 1647.III.3, Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Depéret and Savornin, 1927)
Fig. 6. MUZ PIG 1647.II.3 Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Depéret and Savornin, 1927), A — tooth in lat eral view, B — mag ni fied view of the pos te rior mar gin, C — mag ni fied view of the mar gin lat eral sur faces
The Khouribga lo cal ity needs fu ture re search. It may pro - vide more in ter est ing Cre ta ceous di no saur re mains, in clud ing the rare spinosaurid fos sils.
Ab bre vi a tions of cited re pos i to ries: MUZ PIG — Geo - log i cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute, War saw, Po land; LIMHM — Long Is land Nat u ral His tory Mu seum, New York, USA; BMNH — Brit ish Mu seum of Nat u ral Hi - story, Lon don, UK.
Ac knowl edge ments. The au thors are grate ful to Karol Sabath and Tadeusz Ptaszyński for help ful sug ges tions and Marek Krzyżanowski for pre par ing the pho to graphs. We thank Ludwik Jastrzębski, for in for ma tion on the or i gin of the spec i - mens de scribed herein.
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100 Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki and Gerard Gierliński
