central and eastern Morocco north and south of the Pre-African Trough
Kem Kem Group (Morocco)
The Kem Kem Group (commonly known as the Kem Kem beds[1]) is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, with the lower Ifezouane Formation and the upper Aoufous Formation used for the strata on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains (Tinghir), with the Gara Sbaa Formation and Douira Formation used in the southern Tafilalt region.[2] It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border.
Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.[3] Recent fossil evidence in the form of isolated large abelisaurid bones and comparisons with other similarly aged deposits elsewhere in Africa indicates that the fauna of the Kem Kem Group (specifically in regard to the numerous predatory theropod dinosaurs) may have been mixed together due to the harsh and changing geology of the region, when in reality they would likely have preferred separate habitats and likely would have been separated by millions of years.[4]
Although preserving a freshwater habitat located near a river delta (with some estuarine influence that increased over time as the sea level rose), the Kem Kem deposits were quickly submerged by the sea during the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event, and are thus overlaid by the marine deposits of the younger latest Cenomanian and early-mid Turonian-aged Akrabou Formation, which was formerly also considered a member of the Kem Kem Group, but has been differentiated from it in more recent studies due to their differing paleoenvironments.[1][5]
An iguanian belonging to the group Acrodonta, possibly a relative of the uromastycineagamids. Argued by Vullo et al. (2022) to actually come from Quaternary beds, and to be based on a fossil material of a member of the genus Uromastyx.[22]
Indeterminate lithostrotian remains once misattributed to the Titanosauridae are present in the province of Ksar-es-Souk, Morocco.[3]Template:Paleobiota-key-compact
Ornithischians
Ornithischians reported from the Continental Red Beds
Anterior dorsal vertebra, partial right ischium[34]
The vertebra might belong to a basaltitanosaurian, possibly distinct from Aegyptosaurus and Paralititan.[34] The ischium is not identifiable beyond Somphospondyli; it preserves numerous grooves and pits which might be feeding traces left by a very large non-avian theropod.[34]
Originally described as teeth of indeterminate dromaeosaurids. Hendrickx et al. (2024) reinterpreted this fossil material as teeth of abelisauroid theropods, including noasaurids and juvenile abelisaurids.[37]
A fragment of bone interpreted as a fragment of anterior mandibular symphysis,[52] and additional jaw fragments that pertain to the rostrum as well as indeterminate jaw fragments.[2]
A tapejarid pterosaur. Originally believed to belong to either the family Thalassodromidae[53] or an additional specimen of Alanqa saharica.[54]
Partial rostrum and mandible, with additional referred jaw fragments[2]
A possible chaoyangopteridazhdarchoid pterosaur.[57] Originally believed to be a possible pteranodontid,[53] a possible dsungaripterid,[58] a possible non-azhdarchid azhdarchoid or nyctosaurid,[58] or a specimen of Alanqa saharica.[54]
↑ 3.03.13.23.33.43.53.63.7Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 604-605. ISBN0-520-24209-2.
↑Greenfield, T. (2021). "Corrections to the nomenclature of sawskates (Rajiformes, Sclerorhynchoidei)". Bionomina22 (1): 39–41. doi:10.11646/bionomina.22.1.3.
↑Villalobos-Segura, Eduardo; Kriwet, Jürgen; Vullo, Romain; Stumpf, Sebastian; Ward, David J; Underwood, Charlie J (2021-10-01). "The skeletal remains of the euryhaline sclerorhynchoid †Onchopristis (Elasmobranchii) from the 'Mid'-Cretaceous and their palaeontological implications". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society193 (2): 746–771. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa166. ISSN0024-4082.
↑Britz, R.; Pinion, Amanda K.; Kubicek, Kole M.; Conway, Kevin W. (2024). "Comment on "A Saharan fossil and the dawn of Neotropical armoured catfishes in Gondwana" by Brito et al". Gondwana Research133: 267–269. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2024.06.014. Bibcode: 2024GondR.133..267B.
↑ 13.013.1Samuel L.A. Cooper; David M. Martill (2020). "A diverse assemblage of pycnodont fishes (Actinopterygii, Pycnodontomorpha) from the mid-Cretaceous, continental Kem Kem beds of South-East Morocco". Cretaceous Research112. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104456.
↑Alison M. Murray; Mark V. H. Wilson (2009). "A new Late Cretaceous macrosemiid fish (Neopterygii, Halecostomi) from Morocco, with temporal and geographical range extensions for the family". Palaeontology52 (2): 429–440. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00851.x. Bibcode: 2009Palgy..52..429M.
↑ 19.019.119.219.319.4Jean-Claude Rage; Didier B. Dutheil (2008). "Amphibians and squamates from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco - A preliminary study, with description of a new genus of pipid frog". Palaeontographica Abteilung A285 (1–3): 1–22. doi:10.1127/pala/285/2008/1. Bibcode: 2008PalAA.285....1R.
↑Romain Vullo (2019). "A new species of Lapparentophis from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds, Morocco, with remarks on the distribution of lapparentophiid snakes". Comptes Rendus Palevol18 (7): 765–770. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2019.08.004. Bibcode: 2019CRPal..18..765V.
↑Bunker, G.; Martill, D. M.; Smith, R.; Zourhi, S.; Longrich, N. (2022). "Plesiosaurs from the fluvial Kem Kem Group (mid-Cretaceous) of eastern Morocco and a review of non-marine plesiosaurs". Cretaceous Research140. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105310. Bibcode: 2022CrRes.14005310B.
↑ 29.029.129.2Cau, Andrea; Maganuco, Simone (2009). "A new theropod dinosaur, represented by a single unusual caudal vertebra from the Kem Kem Beds (Cretaceous) of Morocco". Atti Soc. it. Sci. nat. Museo civ. Stor. nat. Milano 150 (II): 239–257.
↑Lio, G., Agnolin, F., Cau, A. and Maganuco, S. (2012). "Crocodyliform affinities for Kemkemia auditorei Cau and Maganuco, 2009, from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco." Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, 153 (I), s. 119–126.
↑ 32.032.1Rozadilla, Sebastián; Agnolín, Federico; Manabe, Makoto; Tsuihiji, Takanobu; Novas, Fernando E. (September 2021). "Ornithischian remains from the Chorrillo Formation (Upper Cretaceous), southern Patagonia, Argentina, and their implications on ornithischian paleobiogeography in the Southern Hemisphere". Cretaceous Research125. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104881. ISSN0195-6671. Bibcode: 2021CrRes.12504881R.
↑ 37.037.137.237.3Hendrickx, C.; Trapman, T. H.; Wills, S.; Holwerda, F. M.; Stein, K. H. W.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Melzer, R. R.; Van Woensel, J. et al. (2024). "A combined approach to identify isolated theropod teeth from the Cenomanian Kem Kem Group of Morocco: cladistic, discriminant, and machine learning analyses". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology43 (4): e2311791. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2311791.
↑ 38.038.138.2Robert S.H. Smyth; Nizar Ibrahim; Alexander Kao; David M. Martill (2019). "Abelisauroid cervical vertebrae from the Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Southern Morocco and a review of Kem Kem abelisauroids". Cretaceous Research108. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104330. Bibcode: 2020CrRes.10804330S.
↑Paterna, Alessandro; Cau, Andrea (2022-10-11). "New giant theropod material from the Kem Kem Compound Assemblage (Morocco) with implications on the diversity of the mid-Cretaceous carcharodontosaurids from North Africa". Historical Biology35 (11): 2036–2044. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2131406. ISSN0891-2963.
↑"Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 76.
↑ 42.042.142.2Singer (2015). JURAPARK NA TROPIE NOWYCH DINOZAURÓW Z MAROKA (Online).
↑ 45.045.1Andrea Cau; Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia; Matteo Fabbri (2012). "A thick-skulled theropod (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco with implications for carcharodontosaurid cranial evolution". Cretaceous Research40: 251–260. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2012.09.002.
↑ 46.046.1Andrea Cau; Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia; Matteo Fabbri (2012). "Evidence of a new carcharodontosaurid from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica57 (3): 661–665. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0043.
↑Peter Wellnhofer; Eric Buffetaut (1999). "Pterosaur remains from the Cretaceous of Morocco". Paläontologische Zeitschrift73 (1–2): 133–142. doi:10.1007/BF02987987. Bibcode: 1999PalZ...73..133W.
↑Jacobs, Megan L.; Smith, Roy E.; Zouhri, Samir (2024). "A new ornithocheirid pterosaur (Pterosauria: Ornithocheiridae) from the mid-Cretaceous Ifezouane Formation, Kem Kem Group of Morocco" (in en). Cretaceous Research166: 106015. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106015.
↑ 56.056.156.256.356.456.556.656.756.8Megan L. Jacobs; David M. Martill; David M. Unwin; Nizar Ibrahim; Samir Zouhri; Nicholas R. Longrich (2020). "New toothed pterosaurs (Pterosauria: Ornithocheiridae) from the middle Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Morocco and implications for pterosaur palaeobiogeography and diversity". Cretaceous Research110. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104413. Bibcode: 2020CrRes.11004413J.
↑ 58.058.158.258.358.458.5Taissa Rodrigues; Alexander W. A. Kellner; Bryn J. Mader; Dale A. Russell (2011). "New pterosaur specimens from the Kem Kem beds (Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian) of Morocco". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia117 (1): 149–160. doi:10.13130/2039-4942/5967.
↑ 60.060.160.260.360.4Borja Holgado; Rodrigo V. Pêgas (2020). "A taxonomic and phylogenetic review of the anhanguerid pterosaur group Coloborhynchinae and the new clade Tropeognathinae". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica65 (4): 743–761. doi:10.4202/app.00751.2020.