Large-sized theropod Spinosaurus: an important component of the carnivorous dinosaur fauna in southern continents during the Cretaceous

Lívia Motta Gil,Pedro Ernesto Pontes de Castro,Carlos Roberto A. Candeiro

doi:10.1051/bsgf/2018010

Lívia Motta Gil, Pedro Ernesto Pontes de Castro + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2018010

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Abstract

The Early Cretaceous of North Africa has Spinosaurinae dinosaur remains such as Spinosaurus recorded in Algeria (Guir Basin, Kem Kem beds), Egypt (Bahariya Formation), Morocco (Kem Kem beds), and Tunisia (Ain El Guettar Formation). Until now, three possible Spinosaurus species were identified: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Spinosaurus sp. and Spinosaurus “B”. The occurrence of this genus in the Albian-Cenomanian rocks of Africa suggests that the temporal and geographic distribution of these spinosaurines is the largest one among all genera and species of megapredators from the middle Cretaceous of Africa. The fossil record of Spinosaurus from the Albian to the Cenomanian shows a 20 million year persistence of this genus in Gondwanan ecosystems.

Highlights

Spinosaurus (Stromer, 1915) is the better known spinosaurid genus from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Gondwana
Two main paleogeographic features allowed spinosaurids to inhabit northern Gondwana and part of Laurasia (North Africa þ northern Brazil þ western Europe) during the middle Cretaceous: the “Western Gondwana bridge”, present during the period where Africa was still connected to South America (Arai, 2015; Melo et al, 2016; Strozyk et al, 2017), and the sporadic pre-Cenomanian connection between Africa and Europe via the Iberian and Italian peninsulas (Canudo et al, 2009)
We present a brief description of the known records, localities, materials, and comments of Spinosaurus specimens from the Albian-Cenomanian of North Africa (Fig. 2, Tab. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Spinosaurus (Stromer, 1915) is the better known spinosaurid genus from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Gondwana. Since Stromer’s (1915) first publication on Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, many anatomical, taxonomic, phylogenetic, biogeographic and paleobiological papers about this genus have been published (e.g., Milner, 2003; Buffetaut et al, 2004; Dal Sasso et al, 2005; Rayfield et al, 2007; Benyoucef et al, 2015; Hendrickx et al, 2016). The aim of the present paper is to document and analyze the distribution of the Spinosaurus genus in northern Gondwana and to elucidate the coastal habitats occupied by the group during the mid-Cretaceous.

Taxon rank

Paleogeography and tectonic events of the mid-Cretaceous: a brief review

Spinosaurus records

Distribution of records

Macrohabitat niche

Remarks