The Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Bahariya Formation of the Bahariya
Oasis in the Egyptian Western Desert has yielded a diverse fossil vertebrate
assemblage, including the type specimens of the non-avian theropods
Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Bahariasaurus, the titanosaurian
sauropods Paralititan and Aegyptosaurus, and the crocodyliforms
Libycosuchus, Stomatosuchus, and Aegyptosuchus. Recent paleontological
fieldwork within the oasis has resulted in the discovery of new fossil vertebrate-bearing localities in multiple horizons of the Bahariya Formation.
The recovered fossils, still under study, include the following: (1) a quadrate
of an as-yet unidentified large-bodied archosaur, with a dorsomedial
expansion, a relatively small pterygoid flange, and mediolaterally elongate
articular condyles; (2) a well-preserved cervical vertebra of an abelisaurid
theropod that is relatively short and that has a neural spine that is taller than
its epipophyses, suggesting a robust neck comparable to those of the
Patagonian abelisaurids Carnotaurus and Ekrixinatosaurus; (3) an associated
partial skeleton of a medium-sized non-avian dinosaur, probably a juvenile
sauropod; (4) a left first wing phalanx of a medium-sized pterosaur, which has
an ossified, medium-sized extensor tendon process with a shallow, open
saddle and that bears large cotyles with the posterior process at the proximal
end of the phalanx suggesting tight articulation with metacarpal IV; and (5) a
right dentary of a crocodyliform that possesses enlarged teeth in the first and
fourth alveoli, with the latter followed by seven smaller teeth. These new
discoveries include the first record of Pterosauria from Egypt and possibly the
first definitive abelisaurid material from the Bahariya Formation.
Furthermore, the crocodyliform dentary appears to represent a taxon not
previously reported from this stratigraphic unit, with potential affinities to
Peirosauridae (including ‘trematochampsids’) or Mahajangasuchidae. |
