Hesham Sallam | |
---|---|
هشام سلام | |
![]() | |
Nationality | Egyptian |
Education | Mansoura University, Oxford University |
Known for | Mansourasaurus |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Vertebrate Paleontology |
Institutions | American University in Cairo Mansoura University |
Theses | |
Doctoral advisor | Erik Seiffert; Stephen Hesselbo |
Hesham Sallam (Arabic : هشام سلام; born 1975) is an Egyptian paleontologist and the founder of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (MUVP-C), the first vertebrate paleontology program in the Middle East. He works as an associate professor at the American University in Cairo and Mansoura University. Sallam led the discovery and description of Mansourasaurus shahinae , a species of sauropod dinosaur from Egypt, which has improved understanding of the prehistory of Africa during the latest Cretaceous period. His work has helped popularize paleontology in Egypt.
Hesham Sallam was born in 1975 in Sharkia, Egypt. [1] He received a bachelor's degree in geology from Mansoura University in 1997. He was a visiting scholar at Stony Brook University from 2008 to 2010, [1] during which time he began planning what would become the MUVP. [2] He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 2010, which made him the first Egyptian to have earned a doctorate in vertebrate paleontology in several decades. [3] After completing his Ph.D., he returned to Egypt, where he worked at Mansoura University and founded the MUVP. Sallam is a professor at both the School of Sciences and Engineering, American University in Cairo (AUC) and at the Department of Geology, Mansoura University, Egypt. the American University in Cairo and Mansoura University. [4]
In December 2013, Sallam and several graduate students found the partial skeleton of a dinosaur at the Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. [5] [6] In February 2014 they returned to the site to excavate the specimen, which took 21 days. [7] Sallam led a team of Egyptian and American paleontologists in describing the specimen, which was announced as belonging to a new species of sauropod, Mansourasaurus shahinae, in January 2018. The holotype specimen of Mansourasaurus is the most complete fossil of a terrestrial animal from the post-Cenomanian Cretaceous in mainland Africa, a period of nearly 30 million years which otherwise has a poorly-known fossil record in Africa. [8] Mansourasaurus is closely related to European species, providing evidence that Africa was not entirely geographically isolated during the Late Cretaceous. The discovery attracted considerable media attention and has helped popularize paleontology in Egypt. [2]
Sallam has been described as one of the most significant paleontologists in the Middle East. [9] The MUVP is the first Middle Eastern research program dedicated to vertebrate paleontology. [3] While fossils have been found in Egypt for over a century, prior to Sallam's founding of the MUVP, vertebrate paleontology research in Egypt was primarily conducted by foreigners. [9] Sallam hopes to change that, using the MUVP both for public outreach and training the next generation of Egyptian vertebrate paleontologists. [3] One of Sallam's students, Sanaa El-Sayed, is the first woman from the Middle East to have been the lead author on an internationally-published vertebrate paleontology research paper. [10]
Below is a list of taxa that Sallam has contributed to naming:
Year | Taxon | Authors |
---|---|---|
2023 | Tutcetus rayanensis gen. et sp. nov. | Antar, Gohar, El-Desouky, Seiffert, El-Sayed, Claxton, & Sallam [11] |
2021 | Phiomicetus anubis gen. et sp. nov. | Gohar, Antar, Boessenecker, Sabry, El-Sayed, Seiffert, Zalmout, & Sallam [12] |
2018 | Mansourasaurus shahinae gen. et sp. nov. | Sallam, Gorscak, O'Connor, El-Dawoudi, El-Sayed, Saber, Kora, Sertich, Seiffert, & Lamanna [8] |
2012 | Acritophiomys bowni gen. et sp. nov. | Sallam, Seiffert, & Simons [13] |
2010 | Kabirmys qarunensis gen. et sp. nov. | Sallam, Seiffert, Simons, & Brindley [14] |
2010 | Nosmips aenigmaticus gen. et sp. nov. | Seiffert, Simons, Boyer, Perry, Ryan, & Sallam [15] |
The Anomaluridae are a family of rodents found in central Africa. They are known as anomalures or scaly-tailed squirrels or [African] flying squirrels. The six extant species are classified into two genera.
Witwatia is an extinct genus of giant bat that contained two species which lived in the Al Fayyum in Egypt during the late Eocene and one species which lived in Tunisia during the early Eocene. It is known from a lower jaw and teeth. Three species have been named: the type species W. schlosseri, W. eremicus and W. sigei.
Karanisia is an extinct genus of strepsirrhine primate from middle Eocene deposits in Egypt.
The Jebel Qatrani Formation is a geologic formation located in the Faiyum Governorate of central Egypt. It is exposed between the Jebel Qatrani escarpment and the Qasr el Sagha escarpment, north of Birket Qarun lake near Faiyum. The formation conformably overlies the Qasr el Sagha Formation and is topped by the Widan el Faras Basalt. The age of the formation has been subject to debate, but the most recent research indicates that it covers both the latest parts of the Eocene and the Early Oligocene, spanning over the boundary between these two time periods.
Nosmips aenigmaticus is a rare fossil primate known only from 12 teeth. Most teeth were found at a site in the Fayum Depression about 40 miles (64 km) outside Cairo, Egypt.
Kabirmys qarunensis is an extinct species of anomaluroid rodent from the earliest late Eocene of the Birket Qarun Formation from northern Egypt. So far, it is the only known species in its genus. It was described in September 2010 by Hesham Sallam, Erik Seiffert, Elwyn Simons, and Chlöe Brindley based on isolated teeth, partial mandibles, and an edentulous partial maxilla. It is noteworthy for being the largest known Eocene anomaluroid.
Plesiopithecus is an extinct genus of early strepsirrhine primate from the late Eocene.
Philisidae is an extinct family of bats of the suborder Microchiroptera that lived between the Eocene to the Late Miocene in the continent of Africa.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2010, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Qarmoutus hitanensis is an extinct ariid catfish whose fossils were first discovered in Birket Qarun Formation, Wadi Al-Hitan, Egypt. It lived during the Eocene period around 37 million years ago, and its body length is estimated to be about 6.5 feet long.
Mansourasaurus is a genus of herbivorous lithostrotian sauropod dinosaur from the Quseir Formation of Egypt. The type and only species is Mansourasaurus shahinae.
Masradapis is an extinct genus of caenopithecine primate from the Priabonian Birket Qarun Formation of the Fayum Depression, Egypt. The type and only species, Masradapis tahai, was named and described by Erik R. Seiffert et al., in 2017. Bayesian tip-dating, when combined with Bayesian biogeographic analysis, suggests that a common ancestor of known caenopithecines dispersed to Afro-Arabia from Europe between 49.4 and 47.4 Ma, and that a trans-Tethyan back-dispersal explains Caenopithecus’ later presence in Europe.
Wahasuchus is an extinct genus of engimatic mesoeucrocodylian, likely a neosuchian, of the Middle Campanian age found in the Quseir Formation, Egypt. First described in 2018, Wahasuchus is known mostly from fragmentary remains representing multiple individuals. Given its incomplete nature, it is not entirely clear what its closest relatives are, though features of the skull including its generally flattened morphology akin to that of modern crocodiles suggests it was part of the clade Neosuchia. However it bears no close resemblance to any of the early Cretaceous forms known from northern Africa nor the contemporary taxa of Europe, suggesting that it might have been part of a unique radiation endemic to Africa. The genus currently only contains a single species, Wahasuchus egyptensis.
The Quseir Formation is a geological formation in the vicinity of the Kharga Oasis in Egypt. It is Campanian In age. The lithology largely consists of soft shale with hard bands of sandstone, siltstone and phosphorite. The environment of deposition was nearshore to freshwater fluvio-lacustrine characterized by moist and aquatic habitats with a tropical warm-humid climate. It is conformably overlain by the marine late Campanian-Maastrichtian Duwi Formation, and unconformably overlies the Turonian Taref Formation. The sauropod dinosaurs Mansourasaurus and Igai are known from the formation, as well as the proximal fibula of an indeterminate theropod and possible remains tentively assigned to spinosaurus. Additionally the lungfish genera Lavocatodus and Protopterus, the crocodyliform Wahasuchus and the bothremydid turtle Khargachelys are also known.
The Sath El-Hadid Formation, translating to "Iron Surface" in Arabic "سطح الحديد", is a geological formation in Egypt characterized by a nummulitic limestone bank containing large and small Nummulites. Introduced into the stratigraphy of the south Fayum area by Iskander in 1943, this formation is significant in the middle Eocene (Bartonian).
The Birket Qarun Formation is an Eocene aged formation in Egypt. It is part of the famous Wadi al Hitan. Notable fossils include the ancient whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon as well as sirenians Eotheroides and Eosiren. It also contains the teeth of various sharks and reptiles. The area was likely a mix of both marine and freshwater area with many freshwater deposits being found alongside a marine influence from the Tethys Sea. Fossils here also preserve a shallow marine nursery for the whale Dorudon and it seems that this area would have also been the site of active predation from Basilosaurus as it attacked the newly born Dorudon calves.
The Fayyum is a region and an important fossil Lagerstätte in northern Egypt. The region comprises the Fayyum Basin, which is intensively used for agriculture, and adjoining areas; the important areas of discovery are mostly north and west of Lake Qarun. The Wadi al-Hitan, known for its numerous whale fossils and since 2005 UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, forms the south-western end. The deposits of the Fayyum belong to various geological formations. They are mainly composed of limestone, siltstone and sandstone. The lower sections consist of marine sediments, while the upper, continental sediments were formed in a coastal landscape. The formation period ranges from the Middle to the Upper Eocene to the Lower Oligocene, which corresponds to an age of around 41 to 28 million years ago. The entire sedimentary complex is overlain by basalt, which dates back to volcanic activity around 24 million years ago.
Lavocatodus is an extinct genus of lungfish from Africa. The type species L. giganteus lived in Mali between the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous and the Lutetian age of the Eocene. Two other possible species, L.? humei and L.? protopteroides, are known from the Campanian Quseir Formation in Egypt, but their taxonomic position within the genus is uncertain. Some researchers included Lavocatodus within the family Lepidosirenidae, but Longrich (2017) recovered both Lavocatodus and Xenoceratodus within a separate family Lavocatodidae.
Qatranimys is an extinct genus of phiocricetomyine rodent that inhabited Egypt during the Priabonian stage of the Eocene epoch. It is a monotypic genus containing the species Q. safroutus.
Acritophiomys is an extinct genus of phiomorph rodent that inhabited Egypt during the Late Eocene. It contains a single species, A. bowni.
https://www.facebook.com/hesham.sallam Facebook Page