[dinosaur] First sauropod tooth from Upper Jurassic of Ethiopia

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

A new paper:


Mark B. Goodwin, Randall B. Irmis, Gregory P. Wilson, David G. DeMar Jr.,
Keegan Melstrom, Cornelia Rasmussen, Balemwal Atnafu, Tadesse Alemu,
Million Alemayehu & Samuel G. Chernet (2019)
The first confirmed sauropod dinosaur from Ethiopia discovered in the Upper
Jurassic Mugher Mudstone.
Journal of African Earth Sciences (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.jafrearsci.2019.103571&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=bTzaKmVnqv3jIDsMQiJMV6i_KhJI1YqOMdkJyQwl3Hc&s=EXQOmNdDJsN0koPtHCqBHPTsf5b6dUgLLPjZ2FweoZw&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S1464343X19302249&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=bTzaKmVnqv3jIDsMQiJMV6i_KhJI1YqOMdkJyQwl3Hc&s=hl1WGnPP3zXq5SMQhNONEMV70yPDJqp-OLCqLvkRrsM&e= 


Highlights

First confirmed sauropod from the Upper Jurassic Mugher Mudstone, Ethiopia
Demonstrates the presence of sauropods in Ethiopia for the first time
This complete tooth compares closely with those of early macronarians
Macronarians were widespread in East Africa during the Late Jurassic

ABSTRACT

Ethiopia preserves extensive Mesozoic non-marine sedimentary sequences, but
dinosaur fossils are exceptionally rare. The record is limited to a handful
of theropod and ornithischian teeth from the Upper Jurassic Mugher Mudstone
of the eastern margin of the Northwest Plateau, which has otherwise
produced a diverse vertebrate fossil assemblage including actinopterygians,
dipnoans, testududineans, crocodyliforms, and mammaliaforms. Here, we
report the discovery of the first confirmed sauropod dinosaur from
Ethiopia. The tooth BST VP-1/1 comes from a fine- to medium-grained, pebble
and clast-rich zone with concentrated lenses of vertebrate microfossils in
the lower part of the Mugher Mudstone. BST VP-1/1 is broad crowned,
complete to the root and slightly ellipsoidal midway in cross-section
proximally toward the root. The distal half of the tooth has a chisel-like
appearance. BST VP-1/1 is planar lingually, convex labially, and narrows
apically. These features compare closely with those of early macronarians,
such as Giraffatitan brancai from the penecontemporaneous Tendaguru
Formation in Tanzania. This specimen demonstrates the presence of sauropods
in Ethiopia for the first time, and indicates that macronarians were
widespread in East Africa during the Late Jurassic Epoch.

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