Tataouinea

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Tataouinea
Temporal range: early Albian
113–110.2  Ma
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Tataouinea skeleton.png
Reconstructed skeleton (with unknown elements based on Nigersaurus ), with known elements in pink
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Sauropoda
Superfamily: Diplodocoidea
Family: Rebbachisauridae
Genus: Tataouinea
Fanti et al., 2013
Species:
T. hannibalis
Binomial name
Tataouinea hannibalis
Fanti et al., 2013

Tataouinea is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur in the subfamily Rebbachisaurinae of Rebbachisauridae which lived in the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia. Only one species, T. hannibalis, is known. [2]

Contents

Discovery and naming

Type specimen in situ Tataouinea in situ.PNG
Type specimen in situ

The first known elements of the holotype were discovered in the Aïn el Guettar Formation in 2011 by Aldo Luigi Bacchetta, but he was unable to excavate the specimen until 2012. The remains were subsequently studied by Federico Fanti, Andrea Cau, Mohsen Hassine and Michela Contessi. The genus was named in 2013. The name refers to the Tataouine Governatorate, Tunisia, and Hannibal. [2] In 2015 more material of the holotype specimen was uncovered after the initial description were analysed. [3] These included additional tail vertebrae.

Description

Tail vertebrae 8 and 9 Tataouinea tail vertebrae 8-9.PNG
Tail vertebrae 8 and 9

Its bones were extensively pneumatic, providing strong support for the theory that sauropods had birdlike respiratory systems. Key characteristics of its vertebral morphology show that Tatouinea was a rebbachisaurid, closely related to the nigersaurines of Europe. [2] A phylogenetic analysis was published alongside the paper, finding a clade of nigersaurines to include Rebbachisaurus , thus forcing the subfamily to be renamed Rebbachisaurinae. [3]

The exact size of Tataouinea is unknown, but comparison to similar sauropods indicates a size of about 14 metres (46 ft) meters long and a height of around 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) at the hips for the holotype individual. [2]

Etymology

The genus name bears the name of the region where it was discovered, Tataouine, and the epithet honours Hannibal, a Carthaginian punic military commander.

Classification

Tataouinea was placed in the Rebbachisaurinae by Fanti et al. (2015). The 2015 cladogram of Fanti et al. is shown below. [3]

Rebbachisauridae

Amazonsaurus

Zapalasaurus

Histriasaurus

Comahuesaurus

Khebbashia
Limaysaurinae

Cathartesaura

Limaysaurus

Rebbachisaurinae

Katepensaurus

Nigersaurus

Rebbachisaurus

Demandasaurus

Tataouinea

Paleoecology

Tataouinea was discovered in the Jebel El Mra Member or the nearby Oum ed Diab Member of the Aptian-Albian Aïn el Guettar Formation. It coexisted with an unnamed carcharodontosaurid, Carcharodontosaurus , Spinosaurus , the notosuchian Araripesuchus , an unnamed sauropod, an unnamed iguanodont, an unnamed ornithocheirid pterosaur, an unnamed species of Sarcosuchus and a species of fish known as Mawsonia . [2] [4]

Related Research Articles

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Tataouine is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the city and the area around it a tourist and film makers' attraction.

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<i>Rebbachisaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Rebbachisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the superfamily Diplodocoidea, that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in Africa and possibly also South America about 99-97 million years ago. Remains attributed to Rebbachisaurus have been found in Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia and possibly also Argentina, although only the Moroccan remains can be referred to the genus without doubt. The discovery of Rayososaurus, a South American sauropod nearly identical to Rebbachisaurus which may have actually have been the same animal as Rebbachisaurus, supports the theory that there was still a land connection between Africa and South America during the Early Cretaceous, long after it was commonly thought the two continents had separated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebbachisauridae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Rebbachisauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains from the Cretaceous of South America, Africa, North America, Europe and possibly Central Asia.

<i>Algoasaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Histriasaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Histriasaurus (HIS-tree-ah-SAWR-us) was a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils, holotype WN V-6, were found in a bonebed in lacustrine limestone exposed on the seafloor off the coast of the town of Bale on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia by Dario Boscarolli during the 1980s, and described in 1998 by Dalla Vecchia. It was a diplodocoid sauropod, related to, but more primitive than, Rebbachisaurus. Phylogenetic analyses published in 2007 and 2011 placed Histriasaurus as the most basal member of Rebbachisauridae.

<i>Machimosaurus</i> Genus of reptiles

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<i>Nigersaurus</i> Genus of reptiles (fossil)

Nigersaurus is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115 to 105 million years ago. It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur were first described in 1976, but it was only named Nigersaurus taqueti in 1999, after further and more complete remains were found and described. The genus name means "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the first remains.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khebbashia</span> Dinosaur clade

Khebbashia is a clade of herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs belonging to the Rebbachisauridae. Members of Khebbashia were medium-sized sauropods from the early Cretaceous period of South America, Africa and Europe.

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<i>Dzharatitanis</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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References

  1. Ogg, J. G.; Hinnov, L. A.; Huang, C. (2012-01-01), Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Schmitz, Mark D.; Ogg, Gabi M. (eds.), "Chapter 27 - Cretaceous", The Geologic Time Scale, Boston: Elsevier, pp. 793–853, doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-59425-9.00027-5, ISBN   978-0-444-59425-9
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Federico Fanti; Andrea Cau; Mohsen Hassine & Michela Contessi (2013). "A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia with extreme avian-like pneumatization". Nature Communications. 4 (2080): 1–7. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.2080F. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3080 . PMID   23836048.
  3. 1 2 3 Fanti, F.; Cau, A.; Cantelli, L.; Hassine, M.; Auditore, M. (2015). "New Information on Tataouinea hannibalis from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia and Implications for the Tempo and Mode of Rebbachisaurid Sauropod Evolution". PLOS ONE. 10 (4): e0123475. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1023475F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123475 . PMC   4414570 . PMID   25923211.
  4. BENTON, M. J., BOUAZIZ, S., BUFFETAUT, E., MARTILL, D. M., OUAJA, M., SOUSSI, M. & TRUEMAN, C. (2000): Dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates from fluvial deposits in the Lower Cretaceous of southern Tunisia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 157: 227–246.