Abstract
A forelimb of a new sauropod dinosaur (Angolatitan adamastor n. gen. et sp.) from the Late Turonian of Iembe (Bengo Province) represents the first dinosaur discovery in Angola, and is one of the few occurrences of sauropod dinosaurs in sub-Saharan Africa collected with good chronological controls. The marginal marine sediments yielding the specimen are reported to be late Turonian in age and, thus it represents a non-titanosaurian sauropod in sub-Saharan Africa at a time taken to be dominated by titanosaurian forms. Moreover, Angolatitan adamastor is the only basal Somphospondyli known in the Late Cretaceous which implies in the existence of relict forms in Africa.
Highlights
Very rich in Cretaceous vertebrates, Angola has remained unexplored in recent decades
Beginning in 2005, the field work conducted by the PaleoAngola Project has significantly enhanced the palaeontological record of the Cretaceous of Angola (Jacobs et al 2006, 2009a, b, Polcyn et al 2009, Mateus et al 2008, Schulp et al 2008)
The PaleoAngola Project mounted the first systematic paleontological expeditions that have been conducted since the early 1960s, when Miguel Telles Antunes performed an extensive and systematic survey on the Angolan fossil vertebrate fauna the most relevant work published in 1964 (Antunes 1964)
Summary
Very rich in Cretaceous vertebrates, Angola has remained unexplored in recent decades. Beginning in 2005, the field work conducted by the PaleoAngola Project has significantly enhanced the palaeontological record of the Cretaceous of Angola (Jacobs et al 2006, 2009a, b, Polcyn et al 2009, Mateus et al 2008, Schulp et al 2008). The PaleoAngola Project mounted the first systematic paleontological expeditions that have been conducted since the early 1960s, when Miguel Telles Antunes performed an extensive and systematic survey on the Angolan fossil vertebrate fauna the most relevant work published in 1964 (Antunes 1964). Follow-up excavations were performed in May and August 2006 To our knowledge, it was the only systematic prospecting for fossil vertebrates in this area since 1960 by M. The material collected by the PaleoAngola Project is largely housed at Museu Geológico da Universidade Agostinho Neto (MGUAN) in Luanda, while some of the collected mosasaur, plesiosaur, pterosaur, and turtle specimens are temporarily housed at Museu da Lourinhã (ML), Portugal, and Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, to be returned to Angola after preparation and study
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