An abelisaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Egypt: Implications for theropod biogeography

Smith, JB and Lamanna, MC (2006) An abelisaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Egypt: Implications for theropod biogeography. Naturwissenschaften, 93 (5). 242 - 245. ISSN 0028-1042

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Abstract

Recent paleogeographic scenarios postulate the isolation of continental Africa during the Late Cretaceous. The absence of abelisaurid theropods from Upper Cretaceous African strata was offered as support of hypothesized African isolation with the acknowledgement that the paucity of African abelisaurids may be mostly an issue of sampling. Here we report on a shed theropod tooth from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian, ∼70 Ma) Duwi Formation of Egypt. The tooth was referred to the Malagasy abelisaurid "Megalosaurus" crenatissimus (=Majungasaurus crenatissimus) in 1921. A discriminant function analysis was run to test for morphological congruence between the Egyptian tooth and the dentitions of 24 theropod taxa. The analysis correctly classified 96.6% of the teeth in the sample and assigned the tooth to Majungasaurus. As current paleogeographic reconstructions posit Madagascar had attained its current position relative to Africa before the Late Cretaceous, it is unlikely that the Egyptian tooth actually pertains to Majungasaurus. Nevertheless, its classification as an abelisaurid supports its referral to the clade. This tooth thus constitutes defensible evidence of an abelisaurid from the post-Cenomanian Cretaceous of mainland Africa. Combined with recent discoveries of abelisaurids in Niger and Morocco, the result indicates that Abelisauridae was a diverse group in Africa during the Cretaceous, existing in multiple places for at least ∼25 Ma and weakens support for hypotheses of an isolated Africa during the Late Cretaceous. © Springer-Verlag 2006.

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Details

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Smith, JB Lamanna, MC
Date:	1 May 2006
Date Type:	Publication
Journal or Publication Title:	Naturwissenschaften
Volume:	93
Number:	5
Page Range:	242 - 245
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.1007/s00114-006-0092-3
Schools and Programs:	Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Geology and Planetary Science
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	0028-1042
Date Deposited:	22 Apr 2014 19:05
Last Modified:	02 Feb 2019 14:55
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21396

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