Paleontologists describe new titanosaur Phosphatotitan khouribgaensis related to South American dinosaurs
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · Apr 28
Paleontologists describe new titanosaur Phosphatotitan khouribgaensis related to South American dinosaurs
6 articles · Updated · Sci.News · Apr 28
Led by Dr. Nick Longrich, the team identified the species from fossils found in Morocco’s Oulad Abdoun Basin, dating to about 70 million years ago.
Phosphatotitan khouribgaensis is smaller than its South American relatives, weighing 3.5 to 4 tons, and shows unique features linking it to Lognkosauria.
The discovery suggests North Africa hosted distinct, endemic dinosaur faunas during the Late Cretaceous, highlighting incomplete knowledge of global dinosaur diversity before the end-Cretaceous extinction.
Why was Africa's new titanosaur so small compared to its giant relatives?
What other lost worlds are still hidden within Africa's fossil record?
How did a South American dinosaur family cross an ocean to Africa?
Did Morocco’s unique dinosaurs signal the coming mass extinction?
How does a single fossil rewrite the history of the dinosaur world?
Are its South American ties real, or did evolution just repeat itself?