[dinosaur] Adratiklit, new stegosaur from Middle Jurassic of Morocco

Ben Creisler
[email protected]


A new paper:


Adratiklit boulahfa gen. et sp. nov.

Susannah C. R. Maidment, Thomas J. Raven, Driss Ouarhache & Paul M. Barret
(2019)
North Africa's first stegosaur: Implications for Gondwanan thyreophoran
dinosaur diversity.
Gondwana Research (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.gr.2019.07.007&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=sVPZXmWEausJ9LYyI7HnWWjXJ6vMBJ9KIp9uDAJQl4M&s=ACxwgSQfwxPzGYnKtN_Zh4Elb66TXoEoEB19QXP3GZo&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S1342937X19302217&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=sVPZXmWEausJ9LYyI7HnWWjXJ6vMBJ9KIp9uDAJQl4M&s=oaKQF9wvSdqukSZKKKKXKsff7GahgYMSNmBglKU_qMg&e= 

Highlights

Adratiklit boulahfa is a new genus of stegosaur from Morocco.
Adratiklit is the oldest definitive stegosaur and the first from north
Africa.
It is closely related to the European stegosaurs Dacentrurus and Mirigaia.
The dinosaur fossil record of Gondwana is biased.
Armoured dinosaurs may have been as diverse in Gondwana as they were in
Laurasia.


Abstract

Eurypoda, the major radiation of armoured dinosaurs, comprises the
ankylosaurs and their sister group, the stegosaurs. As the
earliest-branching major clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, the evolutionary
history of Eurypoda is significant for understanding both the palaeobiology
of bird-hipped dinosaurs and the composition of middle Mesozoic ecosystems.
Eurypodans were diverse and abundant throughout the Late Jurassic and
Cretaceous in Laurasia; in contrast, their remains are extremely rare in
Gondwana. Herein, we describe a new genus and species of stegosaur from the
Middle Jurassic of Morocco, Adratiklit boulahfa. Adratiklit is the first
eurypodan from north Africa and the oldest definitive stegosaur from
anywhere in the world. The genus is more closely related to the European
stegosaurs Dacentrurus and Miragaia than it is to the southern African taxa
Kentrosaurus and Paranthodon. Statistically significant correlations
between the number of dinosaur-bearing formations, dinosaur-bearing
collections, and eurypodan occurrences in Gondwana indicates that their
fossil record is biased by both geological and anthropogenic factors.
Tantalizing but fragmentary remains and trackways suggest that eurypodan
diversity in Gondwana may have been as rich as that of Laurasia, and the
prospects for future discoveries of new genera across Gondwana are
therefore very good.



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