Geo log i cal Quar terly, 2002, 46 (1): 97–100

Isolated theropod teeth from the Creta ce ous strata of Khouribga, Moroc co

Grzegorz NIEDZWIEDZKI and Gerard GIERLIŃSKI

Niedźwiedzki G. and Gierliński G. (2002) — Isolate d theropod teeth from the Creta ceous strata of Khouribga, Morocc o. Geol. Quart., 46 (1): 97–100. Warszawa.

Preda tory dino saur (Theropoda) teeth are de scribed from Khouribga near Casa blanca (Ad-Dar al-Bajda) in northern Mo rocco. A mor- pholog i cal study of speci m ens shows that two teeth rep resent the fam ily Spinosauridae. A third tooth shows feature s char acter istic of the ge nus Carcharodontosaurus. These are the first finds of dino saurs from Khouribga.

Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Depart ment of Biol ogy, Warsaw Univer sity , Miecznikowa 1, PL-02-096 Warszawa, Po land, e-mail: [email protected]; Gerard Gierliński, Polish Geolog i cal In stitute, Rakowiecka 4, PL-00-975 Warszawa, Po- land (receiv ed: Sep tember 18, 2001; accepte d: De cember 11, 2001).

Key words: Morocc o, Creta ceous, Theropoda (Dinosauria), Carcharodontosauridae, Spinosauridae.

INTRODUCTION dark red sandstone . The strati graphic level of these speci m ens is Albian or Cenomanian. This is the general age of strata out crop- ping in this area, the age of the Tegana Form ati on in the region of Ksar es Souk, where isolat ed teeth of Spinosauridae have been Cre ta ceous di no saur re mains are re corded from sev eral lo - found, and the biosratigraphic level Carcharodontosaurus. cal iti es in Morocco (Lavocat, 1954; Lapparent, 1960; Monbaron, 1978; Dutuit and Ouazzou, 1980; Taquet, 1984; Buffetaut, 1989a, b; Sereno et al., 1996; Russel l, 1996; Jacobs SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY et al., 1996; Kellner and Mader, 1997). Many speci m ens have been collec ted, but most are still undes cri bed. The Geo log i cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute Superorder Dinosauria Owen, 1842 has a small collec tion of dino saur fos sils from Cre taceous de- Or der Saurischia Seeley, 1888 posit s of northern Morocco. This collec tion include s two Suborder Theropoda Marsh, 1881 “crocodilian-like” teeth (spinosaurid teeth) and one Fam ily Spinosauridae Stromer, 1915 Carcharodontosaurus saharicus tooth. Because of the scar city Ge nus Spinosaurus Stromer, 1915 of spinosaurid rem ains from Afric a and Carcharodontosaurus Spinosaurus sp. rem ains from Morocco, a short descri pti on of the mate ria l is pre sented here. (Figs. 2, 3 and 5A, B) All of the spec im ens are from Creta ceous depos its in Khouribga 150 km SE of Casa blanc a (Ad-Dar al-Bajda), north - The two spinosaurid teeth (MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 and MUZ ern Morocco (Fig. 1) and were collected from the same local ity PIG 1674.II.2) are only slightly lat erall y com pressed and have (Jastrzębski, pers. comm., 1997). Unfor tu nate ly, specif ic loca - an oval transverse sec tion. They are slightly curved linguall y tion and de tailed strati graphic data are not avail able. Ma trix ad - (Fig. 2). MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 (Fig. 2A) is the larger of the two hering to the speci m ens shows that they were pre served in coarse teeth (126 mm long, the base of the tooth measures 34 mm by 98 Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki and Gerard Gierliński

Fig. 2. Isolate d spinosaurid (Spinosaurus sp.) teeth Fig. 1. Loca tion of the Khouribga site in Morocc o 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 im en: A — MUZ PIG 1647.II.2, B — MUZ PIG 1647.II.1

29 mm) and retai ns part of the root. Speci m en MUZ PIG Fig. 4. BMNH R9951 (holotype) Baryonyx walkeri (Charig and Milner, 1647.II.2 (Fig. 2B) is smaller (114 mm long, transverse sec tion 1990): A — iso lated tooth in lin gual view, B — magni fied view of lat eral surface margin; speci m en LINHM 001, spinosaurid tooth from the Ksar es at the base 44 mm by 30 mm), has a broken tip, and re tains a Souk Province, Morocc o (Kellner and Mader, 1997), C — lingual view substa nti al part of the root. The medial and lateral crown sur- faces on the both teeth are orna m ented with a se ries of low, lon- gi tu di nal ridges (Fig. 2C). The teeth are dif fer ent from those of typ ical tetanurans, Fam ily Carcharodontosauridae Stromer, 1931 which are com pressed later all y, re curved, unornamented in most Ge nus Carcharodontosaurus Stromer, 1931 cases, and have ser rated edges (Cur rie et al., 1990; Kellner, Carcharodontosaurus saharicus Depéret 1995, 1996; Abler, 1997; Sander, 1997). They are si milar to the and Savornin, 1927 teeth of the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus de scribed by Stromer (1915) and teeth descri bed by Kellner and Mader (Figs. 5C and 6) (1997), but are bigger (Fig. 4C). Teeth simi lar to those of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus are found in Baryonyx walkeri (Charig and Milner, 1986, 1990) and Suchiomimus tenerensis (Sereno et The Carcharodontosaurus tooth (MUZ PIG 1647.II.3) is al., 1998). How ever, Baryonyx and Suchiomimus teeth are ser - 104 mm long. The poste rior margin of the crown is only rated (Fig. 4A, B). This fea ture is not observe d in the speci m ens slightly re curved and becom es convex toward the crown tip. MUZ PIG 1674.II.1 and MUZ PIG 1674.II.2. The tooth has enamel or na men ta tion in clud ing trans verse Spinosaurid teeth are also simi lar to some crocodilian teeth, bands and arcu ate wrinkles near the crown margins (Fig. 6). par tic u larly those of Sarcosuchus or related taxa. The spec im ens These tooth feature s are found in maxillary teeth from the MUZ PIG 1647.II.1 and MUZ PIG 1674.II.2 differ from typ ical Carcharodontosaurus saharicus skull descri bed by Sereno et crocodilian teeth in being com para ti vely longer and narrower. al. (1996) and isolat ed Carcharodontosaurus teeth de scribed Isolate d theropod teeth from the Creta ceous strata of Khouribga, Mo rocco 99

Fig. 5. Teeth from Creta ceous strata of Khourigba, Mo rocco, housed in the Geo logi cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo logi cal In stitute, 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)

from western Alge ria (Depéret and Savornin, 1927), Niger Theropod teeth descri bed herein are the first finds of dino - (Lapparent, 1960), Tuni sia (Bouaziz et al., 1988) and Sudan saur re mains at Khouribga and expand the record of di nosaurs (Werner, 1994). from Cre ta ceous de pos its of Mo rocco.

DISCUSSION

The first re mains of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus were collected and descri bed from the Baharîja Oasis in centra l Egypt (Stromer, 1915, 1934). The Egypti an spinosaurid mate ria l, includ ing the holotype was destroy ed during World War II (Buffetaut, 1989b). New spinosaurid mate ria l has been re ported recent ly from Niger and Al geria (Taquet, 1984; Sereno et al., 1998), Tuni sia (Bouaziz et al., 1988), and Morocco (Taquet, 1984; Buffetaut, 1989a, b; Russel l, 1996; Kellner and Mader, 1997). Taquet (1984) re ported the presence of a possi ble spinosaurid in the Kem Kem region of Morocco but did not de- scribe the mate rial. The spinosaurid mate rial de scribed by Buffetaut (1989a, b) include d an incom plet e maxilla from con- tinen tal red beds near the town of Taouz at the base of the Ha- mada du Guir platea u. Russel l (1996) descri bed new specie s of Spinosaurus maroccanus from Tafilalt in southern Morocco. Spinosaurid ma te rial from Tafilalt in cluded a me dian cer vi cal ver te brae, denta ry fragm ents and dorsal neural arch. Spinosaurid mate ria l descri bed by Kellner and Mader (1997) include d two teeth from the Ksar es Souk Province . The re mains of Carcharodontosaurus in Morocco were collec ted from Ksar es Souk Province (Monbaron, 1978), Fig. 6. MUZ PIG 1647.II.3 Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Depéret and Hammada du Guir (Buffetaut, 1989a, b), Kem Kem (Lavocat, Savornin, 1927), A — tooth in latera l view, B — magni fied view of the 1954; Sereno et al., 1996). poste rior margin, C — magni fied view of the margin lat eral surfaces 100 Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki and Gerard Gierliński

The Khouribga local ity needs future resea rch. It may pro- vide more in ter est ing Cre ta ceous di no saur re mains, in clud ing Ac knowl edge ments. The authors are grateful to Karol the rare spinosaurid fossil s. Sabath and Tadeusz Ptaszyński for helpful sugges ti ons and Ab bre vi a tions of cited re pos i to ries: MUZ PIG — Geo- Marek Krzyżanowski for pre paring the photo graphs. We thank log i cal Mu seum of the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute, War saw, Ludwik Jastrzębski, for infor m ati on on the or igin of the speci - Poland; LIMHM — Long Island Natu ral History Museum , mens de scribed herein. New York, USA; BMNH — British Museum of Natu ral Hi - story, London, UK.

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