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New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Called Taleta Taleta Identified in Morocco Based on Jaw Fossils.
Researchers identified a new hadrosaurid dinosaur species in Morocco. Named Taleta taleta, the animal belongs to the group of lambeosaurs and lived around 66 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous period.
Discovery in Jaw Fossils
The identification of Taleta taleta was made from two fossilized jaws found in Maastrichtian phosphate deposits in Morocco. These deposits are located in the Oulad Abdoun Basin, a central region of the country.
The area consists of phosphate sands, marls, and limestones, formed in a shallow marine environment. At that time, the North Atlantic was invading the African continent, covering large areas of Morocco.
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The fossils span a period from the Maastrichtian, around 72 to 66 million years ago, to the Early Eocene, about 56 million years ago. The find was detailed in an article published in the scientific journal Gondwana Research.
Diversification of Dinosaurs in the Cretaceous
During the Late Cretaceous, the supercontinent Pangaea had already fragmented. This separation formed isolated continents, which favored the emergence of different dinosaur faunas around the world. According to paleontologist Nicholas Longrich from the University of Bath and colleagues from institutions in Spain, France, and Morocco, patterns of isolation and dispersal shaped the evolution of these species.
In Asia and North America, hadrosaurid ornithischians and ceratopsians were common, with tyrannosaurids occupying the top of the food chain. In the Southern Hemisphere, titanosaurian sauropods dominated as herbivores, while abelisaurids were the main predators.
Dispersal of African Lambeosaurs
Taleta taleta belongs to the Arenysaurini tribe, and its discovery increases the number of known species of this group in Moroccan phosphates to three. Before it, Ajnabia odysseus and Minqaria bata had already been identified.
Ajnabia odysseus was the first hadrosaurid described from these deposits. Despite the African isolation, its presence indicates that hadrosaurids managed to cross oceans and colonize the continent at the end of the Cretaceous. Studies suggest that Ajnabia has a strong relationship with the Arenysaurini of the Armorican region in southern Europe, indicating a transcontinental migration.
In contrast, Minqaria bata shows marked differences in jaws and teeth compared to Ajnabia, indicating distinct dietary specialization among the species.
Rapid Adaptive Radiation
The discovery of Taleta taleta also shows a wide variation in the jaw and dental morphology of African arenysaurins. For researchers, this suggests rapid adaptive diversification following the arrival of these dinosaurs in Africa.
While lambeosaurs were declining in North America, they found new niches in northern Africa, highlighting the regional character of dinosaur evolution.
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