New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Discovered in Morocco

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 06/06/2025 at 18:42

Updated on 06/06/2025 at 18:47

Reconstrução artística de Taleta taleta . Crédito da imagem: Connor Ashbridge.

1 person reacted to this.

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.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

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.

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Discovered in Morocco

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Called Taleta Taleta Identified in Morocco Based on Jaw Fossils.

Discovery in Jaw Fossils

Diversification of Dinosaurs in the Cretaceous

Dispersal of African Lambeosaurs

Rapid Adaptive Radiation

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Desert sand, previously discarded for being too smooth for concrete, becomes an ecological brick in the United Arab Emirates, dispensing with Portland cement, curing at room temperature, and attempting to transform dunes useless for construction into raw material for a new arid engineering.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Described by astronauts as one of the most unlikely natural phenomena on Earth, the Okavango Delta spreads over up to 15,000 square kilometers in the middle of the desert and transforms Botswana into a living labyrinth of channels, islands, and flooded areas.

Two helicopters, 41 people, and over 38 tons of bait were mobilized on a remote Pacific atoll to eliminate rats; five years later, native trees grew by 5,000%, seabirds gained habitat, and the rainforest began to regenerate.

Brazilian family creates machine that transforms seawater into fresh water, produces up to 130 liters per hour, facilitates routine on vessels, and boosts family business along the country’s coast.

Between Egypt and Sudan, Bir Tawil is no man’s land that neither country wants on paper, but in practice has gold mining, nomadic tribes, and even fake “kings.”

Swimming champion Shavarsh Karapetyan dove about 40 times into a frozen lake in Armenia to rescue a sunken bus, saved 20 lives, and lost his career because of it.

Júlia Pimentel, an 11-year-old from Minas Gerais, independently invented a new formula to calculate the square root using simple addition and multiplication, and her method was published in one of the most important mathematical scientific journals in Brazil.

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Discovered in Morocco

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Species Called Taleta Taleta Identified in Morocco Based on Jaw Fossils.

Discovery in Jaw Fossils

Diversification of Dinosaurs in the Cretaceous

Dispersal of African Lambeosaurs

Rapid Adaptive Radiation

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Desert sand, previously discarded for being too smooth for concrete, becomes an ecological brick in the United Arab Emirates, dispensing with Portland cement, curing at room temperature, and attempting to transform dunes useless for construction into raw material for a new arid engineering.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Described by astronauts as one of the most unlikely natural phenomena on Earth, the Okavango Delta spreads over up to 15,000 square kilometers in the middle of the desert and transforms Botswana into a living labyrinth of channels, islands, and flooded areas.

Two helicopters, 41 people, and over 38 tons of bait were mobilized on a remote Pacific atoll to eliminate rats; five years later, native trees grew by 5,000%, seabirds gained habitat, and the rainforest began to regenerate.

Brazilian family creates machine that transforms seawater into fresh water, produces up to 130 liters per hour, facilitates routine on vessels, and boosts family business along the country’s coast.

A doctor from Minas Gerais warns that sleeping with the fan pointed at the body all night is not as harmless as you think; it dries out the respiratory tract, causes mucus buildup, spreads dust mites, and can even irritate the cornea of the eyes.

Ecuadorian volcano at 6,268 meters is more than 2,000 meters closer to space than Everest, which is 8,848 meters, because the Earth is wider at the equator.

Public school students in the hinterlands of Maranhão create a bioinsecticide with neem and castor to protect corn crops, transform rural waste into biogas and biofertilizer, and bring sustainable technology to producers at ExpoSertão.

Ötzi, the 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps, reveals a still active microbiome, and the Iceman’s yeast points to an energy-saving fermentation.

Brazilian family creates machine that transforms seawater into fresh water, produces up to 130 liters per hour, facilitates routine on vessels, and boosts family business along the country’s coast.

Between Egypt and Sudan, Bir Tawil is no man’s land that neither country wants on paper, but in practice has gold mining, nomadic tribes, and even fake “kings.”

Swimming champion Shavarsh Karapetyan dove about 40 times into a frozen lake in Armenia to rescue a sunken bus, saved 20 lives, and lost his career because of it.

Júlia Pimentel, an 11-year-old from Minas Gerais, independently invented a new formula to calculate the square root using simple addition and multiplication, and her method was published in one of the most important mathematical scientific journals in Brazil.