Middle Eocene vertebrate fauna from the Aridal Formation, Sabkha of Gueran, southwestern Morocco

IF 1.5 3区地球科学 Q2 PALEONTOLOGY

Geodiversitas Pub Date : 2021-03-11 DOI:10.5252/geodiversitas2021v43a5

Samir Zouhri, P. Gingerich, Bouziane Khalloufi, E. Bourdon, S. Adnet, S. Jouve, Najia Elboudali, Ayoub Amane, J. Rage, Rodolphe Tabuce, France de Lapparent de Broin

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the Sahara Desert of southwestern Morocco, the Aridal Formation of Gueran is known for the world's richest Bartonian archaic whale assemblage, which includes both protocetids and basilosaurids. Gueran has also yielded another rich and diverse vertebrate fauna described in detail herein —The chondrichthyan assemblage of twelve species is quite similar to that of the Midawara Formation (Egypt). Actinopterygians include Siluriformes, Percomorpha and rostra of Cylindracanthus Leidy, 1856. Turtles are attributed to at least three indetermined species: two marine cryptodires – a cheloniid and a dermochelyid, and a possible littoral pleurodire, as found in Ad-Dakhla (Morocco) and Fayum (Egypt). The crocodylians comprise at least two longirostrine taxa, including a gavialoid that resembles the late Eocene-early Oligocene Eogavialis africanum Andrews, 1901 from Egypt. The second form is too fragmentary to be identified more precisely than Crocodyliformes indet. Two snake vertebrae belong to Pterosphenus cf. schweinfurthi Andrews, 1901. Two other incomplete snake vertebrae probably belong to Paleophiidae as well. Seabird remains belong to a gigantic soaring pseudo-toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) and constitute the earliest occurrence of the genus Pelagornis sp. Lartet, 1857. This material extends the fossil record of Pelagornis back in time by at least 10 million years. Based on their size and enamel microstructure, mammal dental fragments are attributed to the proboscidean ?Barytherium sp. The Bartonian age of the fauna, initially based on an archaeocete cetacean assemblage, is also supported by chondrichthyans. Affinities of the Gueran faunal assemblage are analyzed in comparison with those from other middle and upper Eocene deposits of North Africa and elsewhere.

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摩洛哥西南部Gueran Sabkha地区Aridal组中始新世脊椎动物区系

在摩洛哥西南部的撒哈拉沙漠，Gueran的Aridal组以世界上最丰富的巴尔顿古鲸组合而闻名，其中包括原鲸类和龙王鲸类。Gueran还发现了另一种丰富多样的脊椎动物区系，本文详细描述了12种软骨鱼的组合，与埃及Midawara组非常相似。放线菌科包括Siluriformes, Percomorpha和rostra of canthus Leidy, 1856。海龟至少属于三种不确定的物种:两种海洋隐龟类——一种龟类和一种皮龟类，以及一种可能的滨海胸龟，在摩洛哥的Ad-Dakhla和埃及的Fayum发现。鳄鱼至少包括两个长颈类群，包括一个类似始新世晚期-渐新世早期非洲古鳄鱼(Eogavialis africanum Andrews, 1901年)的类鳄鱼。第二种形式太零碎，不能比鳄鱼形更精确地识别。两条蛇椎骨属于Pterosphenus . cf. schweinfurthi Andrews, 1901。另外两条不完整的蛇椎骨可能也属于古蛇科。海鸟遗骸属于一种巨大的翱翔的伪齿鸟(Pelagornithidae)，构成了Pelagornis sp. Lartet, 1857年的最早发现。这些材料将伯拉哥龙的化石记录往前推了至少1000万年。根据它们的大小和牙釉质微观结构，哺乳动物的牙齿碎片被归为proboscidean Barytherium sp.。Bartonian时代的动物群，最初是基于一个太古鲸类组合，也得到了软骨鱼类的支持。通过与北非和其他地区始新世中上沉积的动物组合进行比较，分析了圭兰动物组合的亲缘性。

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来源期刊

Geodiversitas 地学-古生物学

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

5.60%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Geodiversitas is a fully electronic journal, with a continuous publication stream, devoted to varied aspects of Earth Sciences. It publishes original results particularly on systematics, phylogeny, paleobiodiversity and paleoenvironment. Thematic issues may also be published under the responsibility of a guest editor.