Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:37:01.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Cretaceous (Campanian—Maastrichtian) marine reptiles from the Adaffa Formation, NW Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2008

B. P. KEAR ,
T. H. RICH ,
M. A. ALI ,
Y. A. AL-MUFARRIH ,
A. H. MATIRI ,
A. M. MASARY  and
Y. ATTIA
B. P. KEAR*
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3086, Australia Earth Sciences Section–Palaeontology, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
T. H. RICH
Affiliation:
Palaeontology Department, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
M. A. ALI
Affiliation:
Saudi Geological Survey, P.O. Box 54141, Jiddah, 21514, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Y. A. AL-MUFARRIH
Affiliation:
Saudi Geological Survey, P.O. Box 54141, Jiddah, 21514, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
A. H. MATIRI
Affiliation:
Saudi Geological Survey, P.O. Box 54141, Jiddah, 21514, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
A. M. MASARY
Affiliation:
Saudi Geological Survey, P.O. Box 54141, Jiddah, 21514, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Y. ATTIA
Affiliation:
Saudi Geological Survey, P.O. Box 54141, Jiddah, 21514, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
*
‡Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Marine reptile remains occur in the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian to lower Maastrichtian) Adaffa Formation of NW Saudi Arabia. This is the first detailed report of late Mesozoic marine reptiles from the Arabian Peninsula. The fossils include bothremydid (cf. Taphrosphyini) turtles, dyrosaurid crocodyliforms, elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, mosasaurs (Prognathodon, plioplatecarpines) and an indeterminate small varanoid. The assemblage is compositionally similar to contemporary faunas from elsewhere in the Middle East/North Africa, and comprises taxa that are typical of the southern margin of the Mediterranean Tethys.

Keywords

marine reptilesLate CretaceousArabian PeninsulaTethyspalaeobiogeography
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 145 , Issue 5 , September 2008 , pp. 648 - 654
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arambourg, C. 1952. Les vertébrés fossiles des gisements de phosphates (Maroc-Algérie-Tunisie). Notes et Mémoires du Service géologique du Maroc 92, 1–372.Google Scholar
Arambourg, C., Dubertret, L., Signeux, J. & Sornay, J. 1959. Contributions à la stratigraphie et à la paléontologie du Crétacé et du Nummulitique de la marge NW de la Péninsule arabique. Notes et Mémoires sur le Moyen-Orient 7, 193–251.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Barbin, V., Laurain, M. & Janin, M.-C. 1997. Première découverte du mosasaure Prognathodon giganteus (Squamata) dans le Campanien (Crétacé supérieur) de Champagne, France. Revue de Paléobiologie 16, 225–30.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Cappetta, H., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Mouty, M., Al Maleh, A. K., Ahmad, A. M., Khrata, O. & Gannoum, N. 2000. The marine vertebrate faunas from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Syria. Geological Magazine 137, 269–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N., Corral, J. C. & Pereda Suberbiola, X. 1997. Les mosasaures (Squamata) du Crétacé supérieur du Bassin Basco-Cantabrique. Geobios 20, 19–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N. & Pereda Suberbiola, X. 2002. Marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Jordan: palaeobiogeographical implications. Geodiversitas 24, 831–9.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Iarochène, M., Amalik, M. & Bouya, B. 2005 a. Durophagous Mosasauridae (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, with description of a new species of Globidens. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 84, 167–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Iarochène, M., Bouya, B. & Amaghzaz, M. 2005 b. A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisauridae (Squamata, Mosasauridae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 143, 447–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Iarochène, M., Bouyahyaoui, F., Bouya, B. & Amaghzaz, M. 2004. Mosasaurus beaugei Arambourg, 1952 (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco. Geobios 37, 315–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, G. L. 1997. A phylogenetic revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauroidea. In Ancient Marine Reptiles (eds Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L.), pp. 293–332. San Diego: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, G. L. & Polcyn, M. J. 2005. Dallasaurus turneri, a new primitive mosasauroid from the middle Turonian of Texas and comments on the phylogeny of Mosasuridae (Squamata). Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 84, 177–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, G. F. 1970. Eastern margin of the Red Sea and the coastal structures in Saudi Arabia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A 267, 75–87.Google Scholar
Christiansen, P. & Bonde, N. 2002. A new species of gigantic mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous of Israel. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22, 629–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M. D. 1986. Explanatory Notes to the Geologic Map of the Al Bad Quadrangle, Sheet 28A, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources Geoscience Map Series GM-81A, C, scale 1:250,000, 46 pp.Google Scholar
Debraga, M. & Carroll, R. L. 1993. The origin of mosasaurs as a model of macroevolutionary patterns and processes. In Evolutionary Biology (eds Hecht, M. K., Macintyre, R. J. & Clegg, M. T.), pp. 245–322. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dollo, L. 1889. Première note sur les mosasauriens de Mesvin. Bulletin de la Société belge de Géologie, de Paléontologie et d'Hydrologie 3, 271–304.Google Scholar
Dortangs, R. W., Schulp, A. S., Mulder, E. W. A., Jagt, J. W. M., Peeters, H. H. G. & De Graaf, D. Th. 2002. A large new mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous of The Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 81, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filatoff, J. & Hughes, G. W. 1996. Late Cretaceous to Recent Palaeoenvironments of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea. Journal of African Earth Sciences 22, 535–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaffney, E. S., Tong, H. & Meylan, P. A. 2006. Evolution of the side-necked turtles: the families Bothremydidae, Euraxemydidae, and Araripemydidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 300, 1–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasparini, Z. N., Salgaldo, L. & Casadío, S. 2003. Maastrichtian plesiosaurs from northern Patagonia. Cretaceous Research 24, 157–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hua, S. & Buffetaut, E. 1997. Crocodylia. Introduction. In Ancient Marine Reptiles (eds Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L.), pp. 357–74. San Diego: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, G. W. & Johnson, R. S. 2005. Lithostratigraphy of the Red Sea region. GeoArabia 10, 49–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, G. W., Perincek, D., Grainger, D. J., Abu-Bshait, A.-J. & Jarad, A.-R. M. 1999. Lithostratigraphy and depositional history of part of the Midyan region, northwestern Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia 4, 503–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jouve, S., Bouya, B. & Amaghzaz, M. 2006. A new species of Dyrosaurus (Crocodylomorpha, Dyrosauridae) from the Early Eocene of Morrocco: phylogenetic implications. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 148, 603–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kear, B. P. 2005. A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25, 792–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapparent de Broin, F. de & Werner, C. 1998. New Late Cretaceous turtles from the Western Desert, Egypt. Annales de Paléontologie 84, 131–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewy, Z. & Gaffney, E. S. 2005. First record of a possible chelonioid sea turtle from the Upper Campanian of southern Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 54, 55–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindgren, J. 2004. Stratigraphical distribution of Campanian and Maastrichtian mosasaurs in Sweden – evidence of an intercontinental marine extinction event? GFF 126, 221–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1994. First record of mosasaurs from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of Zaire. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 68, 259–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. & Nolf, D. 1989. The mosasaur Prognathodon (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium. Bulletin de l'Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 59, 137–90.Google Scholar
Raab, M. 1963. Fossil fish and reptiles from Late Campanian phosphatic deposits of the Negev Region of Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 12, 26–40.Google Scholar
Remond, C. & Teixido, L., with the collaboration of Motti, E., Vasquez-Lopez, R., Vial, A. & Villemur, R. 1980. Geology and mineral exploration of the sedimentary cover between Al Bad and Al Muwaylih (28/35 A-C and 27/35 A-B). French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières Open-File Report JED-OR 80-26, 79 pp.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs (Reptilia: Sauria). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 23, 1–240.Google Scholar
Schwartz, D., Frey, E. & Martin, T. 2006. The postcranial skeleton of the Hyposaurinae (Dyrosauridae, Crocodyliformes). Palaeontology 49, 695–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, H., Roger, J., Halawani, M., Memesh, A., Lebret, P., Bourdillon, C., Buffetaut, E., Cappetta, H., Cavelier, C., Dutheil, D., Tong, H. & Vaslet, D. 1999. Late Paleocene to Early Eocene marine vertebrates from the uppermost Aruma Formation (northern Saudi Arabia): implications for the K–T transition. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris 329, 905–19.Google Scholar
Welles, S. P. 1962. A new species of elasmosaur from the Aptian of Colombia, and a review of the Cretaceous plesiosaurs. University of California, Publications in Geological Sciences 44, 1–96.Google Scholar
Welles, S. P. & Gregg, D. R. 1971. Late Cretaceous marine reptiles of New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 9, 1–111.Google Scholar
Werner, C. & Bardet, N. 1996. New record of elasmosaurs (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) in the Maastrichtian of the Western Desert of Egypt. Berlin Geowissenschaften Abhandlungen 18, 335–41.Google Scholar
Wiffen, J. 1990. New mosasaurs (Reptilia, Family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 33, 67–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zalmout, I. S., Mustafa, H. A. & Wilson, J. A. 2005. Karkaemys arabicus, a new side-necked turtle (Pleurodira, Bothremydidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Wadi Umm Ghudran Formation of Karak, Jordan. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology of the University of Michigan 31, 155–77.Google Scholar