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Faunal composition and relative abundance of macroinvertebrates in sample Tin 3d. Scale bar equals 1 cm. NI"~: number of individuals; NSp: number of species.
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The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania, East Africa) have been well known for nearly a century for their diverse dinosaur assemblages. Here, we present sedimentological and palaeontological data collected by the German-Tanzanian Tendaguru Expedition 2000 in an attempt to reconstruct the palaeo-ecosystems of the Tendaguru Bed...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... (Pl. 2: 8) and Cytherella umbilica (Pl. 2: 12) and benthic foraminifera. The most fossiliferous sample (Tin 3d) stems from calcareous concretions within a bioturbated, fine-grained sandstone. It is domina- ted by epifaunal and infaunal, suspension-fee- ding bivalves that are fairly evenly distributed in terms of their relative abundances (Fig. 3). The lefthight valve ratio of the most common taxa is close to one and double-valved individuals occur. The levels of fragmentation, abrasion, encrustati- on and bioerosion are low. This layer also yiel- ded six species of ostracods, including Cytherella sp. and Majungaella cf. oxfordiana, as well as be- nthic foraminifera. V e r t e b ...
Context 2
... Tendagur- utherium dietrichi possessed shearing teeth (Heinrich 1998). It lived on land and possibly fed on insects and other small invertebrates. The haramiyid Stafia aenigmatica was a small terres- Fig. 4. Faunal composition and relative abundance of macroinvertebrates i n sample Tin 7b. Scale bar equals 1 cm. For key of abbreviations see Fig. 3. trial allotherian mammal. Its dentition suggests that it processed soft food items such as plant material, as previously suggested for other hara- miyid taxa (Butler & McIntyre 1994). The pre- sence of crocodiles indicates freshwater to littor- al environments and adjacent terrestrial ...
Context 3
... mixed siliciclastic-oolitic horizon approxi- mately 8 km northwest of Tendaguru (Kor 24, For key of abbreviations see Fig. 3. Fig. 1) is characterised by concentrations of colo- nial corals (e.g., P1. 2: 6) that are up to 20 cm in diameter and largely occur in life position. Also common are large, thick-shelled cementing oy- sters (Fig. 5). Corals and thick-shelled oysters served as hard substrates for small cementing oy- sters and provided an ideal ...
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Citations
... Two items, Aberhan et al. (2002) and Santos et al. (2021), on East Africa are pertinent; these studies are on Tanzania and Ethiopia respectively, and are described below. Aberhan et al. (2002) is a wide-ranging multidisciplinary study on the sedimentology and palaeontology of the Tendaguru Beds (Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous) in their type area around Tendaguru in southeast Tanzania. ...
... Two items, Aberhan et al. (2002) and Santos et al. (2021), on East Africa are pertinent; these studies are on Tanzania and Ethiopia respectively, and are described below. Aberhan et al. (2002) is a wide-ranging multidisciplinary study on the sedimentology and palaeontology of the Tendaguru Beds (Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous) in their type area around Tendaguru in southeast Tanzania. Despite the intense weathering of surface outcrops throughout this region, relatively fresh material was obtained, and some of the samples yielded palynomorphs which were dominated by gymnospermous pollen. ...
Since the publication of six literature compilations issued between 2012 and 2020, 38 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts were issued, or have been discovered, during the past 12 months (i.e. between April 2020 and March 2021). Considerable research has been published on the Triassic and Early Jurassic marine palynology of sub-Arctic West Europe and West Russia. All the 38 items are listed herein with doi numbers where applicable, and a description of each item as a string of keywords.
... Records from northern Africa are critical to answering this question, yet remain relatively poorly known in comparison to elsewhere across the continent and Gondwana as a whole (Fig. 1). In particular, the extensive Mesozoic sedimentary strata of Ethiopia are well-positioned to help address the biogeographic effects of the break-up of Pangaea, but the vertebrate fossil assemblages from these units are not well sampled compared to other African faunas, such as the Triassic-Jurassic of southern Africa (e.g., Olsen and Galton, 1984;Knoll, 2004Knoll, , 2005Rubidge, 2005;Sidor et al., 2013) and Morocco (e.g., Dutuit, 1976;Jalil, 1999;Jalil and Peyer, 2007;Tourani et al., 2000;Allain and Aquesbi, 2008;Allain et al., 2004Allain et al., , 2007Kammerer et al., 2012), and the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru, Tanzania (e.g., Janensch, 1914Janensch, , 19221961;Russell et al., 1980;Galton, 1988;Heinrich, 1991Heinrich, , 1998, 2001Heinrich et al., 2001;Aberhan et al., 2002;Arratia et al., 2002;Remes, 2007Remes, , 2009Mannion et al., 2019). This under-sampled "African Gap" (O' Connor et al., 2006;Roberts et al., 2010) is vital for a comprehensive understanding of Mesozoic Pangaea because this area is near the actively rifting Gondwana-Laurasia margin in the Tethys, and records warm and semi-arid low-paleolatitude regions in a hothouse world (cf. ...
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, testudineans, 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.
... However, shifting positions of rifting centers as well as intervals of transform motion and more recent compressional stress resulted in a sedimentary record with more complexity than an Atlantic style passive margin. The Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits in the region are largely terrestrial to marginal marine in character, including the famous dinosaur-bearing Tendanguru Formation (Janensch 1914;Aberhan et al. 2002;Bussert et al. 2009;Heinrich et al. 2011). Sediments at Tendanguru were deposited in the Mandawa Basin as a result of sea level changes in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (Aberhan et al. 2002;Bussert et al. 2009). ...
... The Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits in the region are largely terrestrial to marginal marine in character, including the famous dinosaur-bearing Tendanguru Formation (Janensch 1914;Aberhan et al. 2002;Bussert et al. 2009;Heinrich et al. 2011). Sediments at Tendanguru were deposited in the Mandawa Basin as a result of sea level changes in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (Aberhan et al. 2002;Bussert et al. 2009). Late Cretaceous-Miocene deposits, on the other hand, preserved marine fossils and sedimentary features typical of outer shelf to slope-style environments, that have experienced only shallow burial depths. ...
Exceptionally well-preserved palynomorphs were recovered from a Turonian section cored in Tanzania. Here we provide an in-depth evaluation of the terrestrial palynomorph assemblages recovered, discuss their environmental affinity, and provide taxonomic descriptions for seventeen angiosperm species. Forms present include various species of Liliacidites, Tricolpites, Tricolporites, Tetracolpites, Syncolporites, Triporopollenites, Hexaporotricolpites, and Periporopollenites. In addition to these angiosperm species, the palynological assemblage is dominated by gymnosperm genera that include Classopollis, Ephedripites, and Exesipollenites. This assemblage and the rarity of humidity-dependent bryophytes and pteridophytes clearly support the hypothesis that the Turonian climate in Tanzania was warm and relatively dry.
... The depositional setting of the Tendaguru Formation (Figs. 2 and 3) was marginal marine comprising lagoon-like, shallow marine environments with widespread Pinna et al. (2004) and Davidson and Steel (2018). tidal flats and low-relief coastal plains (Aberhan et al., 2002). The Upper Jurassic Mitole Formation crops out in the central part of the basin (Figs. 2 and 3) (Hudson, 2011). ...
... Like the Mitole Formation, the Nalwehe Formation is composed of a lower limestone member (consisting mainly of carbonate reef deposits) and an upper sandstone member (Figs. 2 and 3) (Aitken, 1961;Hudson, 2011). Both the Tendaguru and Nalwehe formations (Figs. 2 and 3) are unconformably overlain by the Aptian -Albian Kiturika, Kihuluhulu and Makonde (Aberhan et al., 2002;Hudson, 2011). It has been proposed that the Makonde Formation passes laterally into the Kiturika and Kihuluhulu formations (Kent, 1971;Hudson, 2011). ...
This paper concerns the heavy mineral composition of Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene sedimentary successions in the Mandawa Basin. The nature of the heavy mineral assemblages in 38 samples was investigated to assess changes in sediment provenance through time. Further, the geochemistry of detrital amphiboles and garnets and the detrital zircon populations were used to determine possible sediment source terranes. Based on the heavy mineral compositions the sandstones were grouped into four heavy mineral assemblages: garnet-dominated, amphibole-dominated, epidote-dominated and zircon-dominated. Garnet-dominated sandstones are abundant in most Middle Jurassic to Middle Eocene samples and represent the main sediment input into the Mandawa Basin. Amphibole-dominated sandstones occur in a few Lower Cretaceous samples deposited in close proximity to their sediment source in the Masasi Spur area. A change in provenance is observed in the epidote-dominated sandstones of Middle Eocene and Early Oligocene age. This change coincides with a climatic shift towards a wetter and cooler climate associated with an uplift phase in East Africa. The detrital zircon population in the investigated samples share the same age fractions and are indistinguishable within analytical error. Mineral chemistries and zircon ages imply that the sediments deposited in the Mandawa Basin were mainly derived from several high-grade sources within the Neoproterozoic Mozambique Belt to the west of the basin.
... The Upper Jurassic Tendaguru Formation (Kimmeridgian – Tithonian) crops out about 75 km (40 miles) northwest of Lindi, Tanzania (Maier 1997), and is approximately 110 m thick (Bussert and Aberhan 2004) (Figure 1). This formation is dominated by calcareous sandstones and siltstones, with brackish and shallow marine influence demonstrated by the occurrence of marine dinoflagellates, corals, mytiloids and pterioid bivalves, ammonites, gastropods and sharks (Aberhan et al. 2002). Geologically, it is situated in the southwestern part of the Mandawa Basin, one of the coastal basins of East Africa (Bussert and Aberhan 2004). ...
The pterosaur fossil record from Africa is exceedingly scarce and one of the least known for any continental land mass. The specimens here described are housed at the Naturkundemuseum of the Humboldt University and consist of two cervical vertebrae, a coracoid and a wing metacarpal recovered from the Upper Jurassic Tendaguru Formation, Tanzania. Due to the general morphology and the absence of a lateral pneumatic foramen in both vertebrae, as well as the presence of a longitudinal depression, not previously reported in pterosaurs, we consider these specimens as representatives of a new species of Azhdarchidae. Moreover, because the coracoid, which bears three well-developed pneumatic foramina, has a well-excavated depression that is medially positioned at the posterior face of the acrocoracoid process, we regard this as a new basal pterodactyloid species. The wing metacarpal is greatly elongated and clearly belongs to Pterodactyloidea. Its elongation and slender aspect, as well as the sub-triangular shape of its proximal articular end, likely place it within the Tapejaroidea. The material here described shows the potential of these deposits to provide more informative pterosaur material and provisionally extends the oldest record of azhdarchids to the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian of Africa.
... Using sedimentary and fossil floral and invertebrate evidence, Aberhan et al. (2002) concluded that the Middle and Upper Saurian Beds, for which the new terms "Middle Dinosaur Mem- ber" and "Upper Dinosaur Member" were suggested by Bussert et al. (2009), represent deposits on siliciclastic tidal flats of a lagoonal system, intercalated with small tidal channels. In the upper part of the Middle Saurian Bed, occasional sabkha (salt flat)-like coastal plains with brackish lakes and ponds formed ( Aberhan et al., 2002). These environments tend to be poorly vegetated. ...
... These environments tend to be poorly vegetated. How- ever, fossil floral elements such as Cheirolepidiaceae, Podocarpaceae, Araucariaceae and conifers, suggestive of a forest, and shrub-like elements such as pterido- phytes and pteridosperms ( Aberhan et al., 2002;Rees et al., 2004) most likely originate from the vegetated hinterland. Cheirolepidiaceae are widely considered to be a dominant element in forests bordering the sea in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (Alvin, 1982;Gee, 2011). ...
... Klevezal (1996) suggested that populations living in strongly seasonal environments develop regular growth marks whereas populations inhabiting less seasonal envi- ronments (even if both populations belong to the same species, e.g., wolf or Edmontosaurus) show much more variation in the development and regularity of growth marks (see also H€ ubner, 2012). Sedimentary evidence and the occurrence of fossil charcoal in the Tendaguru Forma- tion support pronounced dry seasons alternating with seasonal rainfalls in a subtropical to tropical, semi-arid paleoclimate (Hallam, 1985(Hallam, , 1993Valdes and Sellwood, 1992;Valdes, 1994;Aberhan et al., 2002;Rees et al., 2004). Seasonal rainfalls are indicated by the presence of Glyptostrobus-and Podocarpus-related wood ( Figueiral et al., 1999), fungi infesting and degrading the wood ( Alvin et al., 1981) as well as caliche nodules (Heinrich, 1999;Rees et al., 2004). ...
Using bone histology, a slow growth rate, uncommon for most dinosaurs, has been interpreted for the highly derived stegosaur Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) and the basal thyreophoran Scutellosaurus. In this study, we examine whether this slow growth rate also occurs in the more basal stegosaur Kentrosaurus from the Tendaguru beds of Tanzania. The bone histology of six femora of Kentrosaurus representing an ontogenetic series from subadult to adult was studied, as well as one scapula. The primary bone is mainly highly vascularized fibro-lamellar bone with some reticular organization of the vascular canals. In addition to LAGs and annuli, distinctive shifts in the pattern of vascularization occur, which have been interpreted as potential growth marks. The variation in the development of growth marks may reflect annual climatic fluctuations. The overall bone depositional rate, and hence growth rate in Kentrosaurus appears to be higher than in Stegosaurus and Scutellosaurus. Considering that Stegosaurus is the larger-sized of the two stegosaurs, this would be contrary to an earlier supposition that small-bodied dinosaurs have slower growth rates than larger ones. Our finding of rapid rates of bone deposition in Kentrosaurus suggests that slow growth rates previously reported in Scutellosaurus and Stegosaurus are not a phylogenetic characteristic of the Thyreophora. Thus, slow growth rates are not plesiomorphic for the Thyreophora. We propose that the slow growth rates documented in the highly derived Stegosaurus could have been secondarily derived or alternatively that Kentrosaurus is the exception having increased growth rates. Anat Rec, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
... For the Tendaguru region with its reconstructed seasonal change of humidity[15], long droughts would be such harsh times accompanied by a shortage of food and water. This is also indicated by the depositional area of the Tendaguru Beds, which are very unlikely to be the usual habitat for the preserved dinosaurs[17]. LAGs are obviously more common in ornithopods than previously thought[98]and completely azonal bone is rather unlikely (in contrast to e.g.[6,18,48]). ...
Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki is a small ornithopod dinosaur known from thousands of bones and several ontogenetic stages. It was found in a single locality within the Tendaguru Formation of southeastern Tanzania, possibly representing a single herd. Dysalotosaurus provides an excellent case study for examining variation in bone microstructure and life history and helps to unravel the still mysterious growth pattern of small ornithopods.
Five different skeletal elements were sampled, revealing microstructural variation between individuals, skeletal elements, cross sectional units, and ontogenetic stages. The bone wall consists of fibrolamellar bone with strong variability in vascularization and development of growth cycles. Larger bones with a high degree of utilization have high relative growth rates and seldom annuli/LAGs, whereas small and less intensively used bones have lower growth rates and a higher number of these resting lines. Due to the scarcity of annuli/LAGs, the reconstruction of the life history of Dysalotosaurus was carried out using regularly developed and alternating slow and fast growing zones. Dysalotosaurus was a precocial dinosaur, which experienced sexual maturity at ten years, had an indeterminate growth pattern, and maximum growth rates comparable to a large kangaroo.
The variation in the bone histology of Dysalotosaurus demonstrates the influence of size, utilization, and shape of bones on relative growth rates. Annuli/LAGs are not the only type of annual growth cycles that can be used to reconstruct the life history of fossil vertebrates, but the degree of development of these lines may be of importance for the reconstruction of paleobehavior. The regular development of annuli/LAGs in subadults and adults of large ornithopods therefore reflects higher seasonal stress due to higher food demands, migration, and altricial breeding behavior. Small ornithopods often lack regularly developed annuli/LAGs due to lower food demands, no need for migration, and precocial behavior.
... Sauropod teeth from the Morrison Formation all come from the Howe-Stephens Quarry, whereas the Brachiosaurus teeth are from different microsites within the Tendaguru Beds. ally dry climate (Aberhan et al. 2002; Engelmann et al. 2004; Rees et al. 2004; Foster 2007 ...
... Evidence of Equisetum has not yet been recovered from the Tendaguru flora (cf. Aberhan et al. 2002; Schrank 2010). ...
... ), while Ginkgo foliage co-occurs with sauropod remains at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in western does occur, but it is less commonly preserved than conifer cuticle (Kahlert et al. 1999; Aberhan et al. 2002). ...
... Foliage and wood of the Cupressaceae occurs in the Morrison Formation (e.g., Tidwell 1990b; Ash & Tidwell 1998; Tidwell et al. 1998). Wood assigned to the morphogenus Glyptostroboxylon , which may pertain to the Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae, is also found at Tendaguru (Kahlert et al. 1999; Süss & Schultka 2001; Aberhan et al. 2002). In Argentina, cupressaceous wood has been reported from the Jurassic (Gnaedinger 2004), and leafy twigs with seed cones occur in the mid Cretaceous of Argentina (Halle 1913; Archangelsky 1963; Villar de Seoane 1998; Llorens & Del Fueyo 2003; Del Fueyo et al. 2008). ...
during the majority of the Mesozoic, from the Tri-assic to the mid Cretaceous, the food plants of the sauro-pod dinosaurs were virtually limited to ferns, fern allies, and gymnosperms because the diversification of the an-giosperms, which include the broad-leaved trees and grasses of today, only began in the Late Cretaceous. In this chapter, the preferences of the sauropods for one or more of these Mesozoic plant groups are evaluated by means of a survey approach that integrates botanical and paleobotanical data. These data include the growth hab-its of the nearest living relatives of these plant groups, their habitat, the amount of biomass produced, and the ability to regrow shoots, branches, and leaves after injury through herbivory. The relative quantities of energy and essential nutrients yielded to herbivores with hindgut fermentation, the consumption of the various plant groups by modern herbivores, and the coeval occurrence of sauropods and individual plant groups in the fossil record are other major factors taken into consideration here. As a result of this extensive survey, it appears that Araucaria, Equisetum, the Cheirolepidiaceae (an extinct conifer family), and Ginkgo would have been most acces-sible, sustaining, and/or preferred sources of food for the sauropods. Moderately accessible, sustaining, and/or commonly encountered plants would have been other conifers such as the Podocarpaceae, Cupressaceae, and Pinaceae. Less commonly browsed by the sauropods, es-pecially by large, fully grown individuals, would have been forest-dwelling ferns such as Angiopteris and Os-munda. The least frequently eaten plants were probably the cycads and bennettitaleans.
... Most of these dinosaurs were sauropods, and their sizes are comparable to those seen in other sauropod faunas (cf. Paul 1998;Henderson 1999;Seebacher 2001;Aberhan et al. 2002;Mazzetta et al. 2004;Carpenter 2006;Foster 2007;Lovelace et al. 2007;Gunga et al. 2008;Sander and Clauss 2008;Royo-Torres et al. 2009;Taylor 2009;Klein et al. in press). ...
The ecosystem impact of megaherbivorous dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation would have depended on their abundance (number of animals per unit of habitat area) on the landscape. We constrain Morrison megaherbivore abundance by modelling dinosaur abundance in terms of carrying capacity (K), average body mass (ABM) and animal’s energy needs. Two kinds of model are presented: ‘demand-side’ models that estimate K in terms of the aggregate energy demand of the dinosaur community, and ‘supply-side’ models that estimate K in terms of retrodicted primary productivity. Baseline values of K, ABM and energy needs for the models are further derived from comparisons with modern large herbivores, and from the composition of the megaherbivore fauna from a particular stratigraphic interval of the Morrison, but in all models a broad range of fractions and multiples of these baseline parameters are considered. ‘Best-guess’ estimates of Morrison megaherbivore abundance suggest an upper limit of a few hundred animals across all taxa and size classes per square kilometre, and up to a few tens of individuals of large subadults and adults.
