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Reported here is the discovery of a new mammal from the middle Paleocene of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, Morocco. Hadrogeneios phosphaticus, gen. et sp. nov., is described based on dental and gnathic specimens. Comparative dental anatomy and CT scan observations support stem relationships to paenungulates. The cladistic analysis relates Hadrog...
CITATION :
Jalil N-E, Gheerbrant E and Rücklin M (2023), Editorial: African vertebrates through times. Front. Earth Sci. 10:1111339. doi: 10.3389/feart.2022.1111339
The first record of vertebrate fossils from Africa can be traced back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, almost two centuries of paleontological discoveries. Today Africa is...
The Ksar Metlili Formation, from the Jurassic – Cretaceous transition (Tithonian – Berriasian) of eastern High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, has yielded one of the richest microvertebrate assemblages from the Mesozoic of Gondwana. With at least 19 species, mammaliaforms are particularly diverse. ‘Dryolestoidea’ are the most abundant and the most divers...
We provide detailed morphological description, including enamel microstructure, of the earliest known embrithopod mammals (Afrotheria, Paenungulata), Stylolophus minor and S. major, n. sp., recently discovered in the early Eocene of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, Morocco. Stylolophus minor and S. major, n. sp., show close morphological affinity,...
We performed different geochemical analyses of Paleogene terrestrial mammal remains to establish their taphonomy, stratigraphic provenance, and palaeoenvironmental conditions. Rare earth element (REE) results indicate a similar diagenetic history to that of marine taxa investigated prior from these beds. Therefore, the mammal remains were initially...
The Lophiodontidae are endemic perissodactyls from Europe that flourished during the Eocene. Despite their preponderance in the European fossil record, their exact origin and relationships within the perissodactyls remain unknown due to the rare and fragmentary material in the early Ypresian, the time of their earliest radiation. Lophiaspis maurett...
The global palaeobiogeography of early marsupialiform mammals is still poorly understood due to a meagre fossil record outside western North America. Here, two isolated teeth of a marsupialiform mammal from the lowermost Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of southwestern France are described and referred to Stagodontidae, a dentally specialized gr...
The paleogeographic history of the Indian sub-continent is unique among Earth's landmasses. From being part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana for most of the Mesozoic, through a period of isolation as a drifting entity in the Late Cretaceous, to colliding with Asia near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, the Indian subcontinent has been associate...
From mid-Cretaceous to Early Miocene, Africa was geographically isolated as a gigantic island, the Island Africa. This considerably impacted local evolution of continental vertebrates. The native fauna of the Island Africa is and was depauperate for poorly known reasons. Although an Island, Africa was intermittently connected to Laurasia by discont...
Based on high‐resolution computed tomography, we describe in detail the petrosal and inner ear anatomy of one of the few known African stem paenungulates (Paenungulatomorpha), Ocepeia daouiensis from the Selandian of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin (Morocco). The petrosal of Ocepeia displays some remarkable, probably derived features (among euther...
The Middle Jurassic – Early Cretaceous period witnessed the emergence of some major representatives of modern continental vertebrate groups (stem lissamphibians, squamates, therian mammals and birds) and angiosperms, at a time when fragmentation of Pangaea was underway. The successive Moroccan microvertebrate faunas of Ksar Metlili (?Berriasian) an...
In this paper, we present results of a palynological analysis of the phosphate succession from the northern flank of the Bou Angueur syncline in the Middle Atlas (central Morocco). The studied interval yielded a well-preserved and diverse palynological content, dominated by dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts), allowing a detailed taxonomic study of di...
A pycnodont premaxilla bearing a large incisiform tooth with an unusual crown morphology is described from the Palaeocene (Thanetian) phosphate deposits of Morocco. This peculiar tooth shows a broad, fan-shaped multicuspid crown with nine cusps, well adapted for benthic macroalgal scraping. This morph, assigned to a new species of Pycnodus ( P. mul...
The Ksar Metlili site, Anoual Syncline, Eastern Morocco, has been resampled. More than 24,500 identified specimens provide key palaeontological data for the understanding of the African and Gondwanan vertebrate evolution around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Some remarkable taxa were discovered that allow to reassess the dating of the Ksar Metli...
The new material from the Ksar Metlili site, Anoual Syncline, Eastern Morocco, provides key palaeontological data for the understanding of the African and Gondwanan vertebrate evolution around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Some remarkable taxa were discovered that allow to reassess the dating of the Ksar Metlili site and have several major chro...
A new species of the ‘isectolophid’ Chowliia, C. europea, sp. nov., is described from the lowermost Eocene (MP7) Le Quesnoy locality of the Paris Basin. The new species is exclusively known by dental material, and it represents the earliest tapiromorph occurrence in Europe. The morphology of its bunolophodont molars indicates that C. europea is a t...
Modern mammals rapidly evolved in the early Cenozoic in all continental provinces, including in Africa, with one of the first placental branches, the Afrotheria [1, 2]. Afrotherian evolution is at the origin of the major radiation of African ungulate-like mammals, including extant hyrax, elephant, and sea cow orders, which all belong to the Paenung...
The extinct group of the Pycnodontiformes is one of the most characteristic components of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic fish faunas. These ray-finned fishes, which underwent an explosive morphological diversification during the Late Cretaceous, are generally regarded as typical shell-crushers. Here we report unusual cutting-type dentitions from t...
The Paleocene-Eocene transition is characterised by the first appearance of perissodactyls. Here, we report new fossil data of perissodactyls from the locality of Le Quesnoy (Oise, France, MP7). This locality has yielded one of the oldest and most complete material of perissodactyls from the MP7 reference level of Europe, and it permits description...
Among medium- to large-sized terrestrial ‘ungulates,’ there is often a relationship between increasing body size, correlated changes in diet, and increased complexity of the enamel microstructures [notably the development of Hunter-Schreger bands (HSB)]. An exhaustive survey of the enamel microstructures of living and extinct Hyracoidea demonstrate...
The phosphates of Morocco range over a period of about 24 million years (m.y.), from the end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) up to the base of the Middle Eocene (Lutetian), which is the longest interval of all phosphate deposits from the Mediterranean and Atlantic “Phosphogenic Provinces”. These marine sediments have recorded the evolution of lif...
Molecular-based analyses showed that extant "ungulate" mammals are polyphyletic and belong to the two main clades Afrotheria (Paenungulata) and Laurasiatheria (Euungulata: Cetartiodactyla-Perissodactyla). However, paleontological and neontological studies hitherto failed to demonstrate the morphological convergence of African and Laurasian "ungulat...
Most parsimonious tree with synapomorphies resulting from analysis with implied weighting and ordered features (see Fig 11).
This tree is our reference topology for the discussion of the relationships of Abdounodus and Ocepeia and of the distribution of the characters. Details on the analysis and synapomorphies in this tree are provided in S2 Text...
Synapomorphies of Paenungulatomorpha (Fig 11, node 29: Ocepeia (Abdounodus, Paenungulata)).
Ambiguous synapomorphies: (a) Acctran optimization; (d) Deltran optimization.
(DOC)
Character matrix and phylogenetic analysis of Abdounodus.
(PDF)
Synapomorphies of Paenungulata (Fig 11, node 44).
Ambiguous synapomorphies: (a) ACCTRAN optimization; (d) DELTRAN optimization.
(DOC)
TNT/Hennig character matrix analysed for cladistic study of the relationships of Abdounodus.
(SS)
3D model of the maxillary of Abdounodus hamdii (Selandian, Ouled Abdoun, Morocco), reconstructed from the CT scans of the specimen MHNM.KHG.154. The reconstruction illustrates the sutured right and left maxillaries of the original specimen MHNM.KHG.154 with the jugal dentition (P3-4, M1-3). The length of the preserved tooth row P3-M3 is 23.8 mm (ri...
Angle of molar wear striae of Abdounodus hamdii for reconstruction of its mastication compass (Fig 6C).
(DOC)
Homoplasy scores (extra steps) of some key features of upper molars seen in Abdounodus, Ocepeia and the Paenungulata.
Clades found in our Most Parsimonious Trees: Alt: lophodont ungulates (“Altungulata”); Pae: Paenungulatomorpha.
(DOC)
Synapomorphies of Abdounodus and Paenungulata (Fig 11, node 28).
Ambiguous synapomorphies: (a) ACCTRAN optimization; (d) DELTRAN optimization.
(DOC)
Additive characters in analysed matrix of Abdounodus hamdii.
(DOC)
Changes (additions and corrections) made in the character matrix of Gheerbrant et al. (2014) for the analysis of the relationships of Abdounodus
(DOC)
We report the discovery of the earliest European carnivoraforms, based on two new taxa from the latest Paleocene of France and Romania. A new species of Vassacyon, V. prieuri, from the locality of Rivecourt (MP6b; Oise, France) (MP = Mammalian Paleogene reference levels) is described based on a dentary fragment and isolated teeth. This species disp...
Marine vertebrate fossils from late Cretaceous–early Paleogene shallow marine phosphorites of Morocco were investigated for their trace element compositions and neodymium isotopic ratios in order to constrain marine and depositional conditions. The various analyzed fossils are separated into two groups with different geo-chemical compositions: (1)...
Marine vertebrate fossils from late Cretaceous–early Paleogene shallow marine phosphorites of Morocco were investigated for their trace element compositions and neodymium isotopic ratios in order to constrain marine and depositional conditions. The various analyzed fossils are separated into two groups with different geochemical compositions: (1) s...
One of the last major clades of placental mammals recognized was the Afrotheria, which comprises all main endemic African mammals. This group includes the ungulate-like paenungulates, and among them the elephant order Proboscidea. Among afrotherians, the petrosal anatomy remains especially poorly known in Proboscidea. We provide here the first comp...
Whether or not evolutionary lineages in general show a tendency to increase in body size has often been discussed. This tendency
has been dubbed “Cope's rule” but because Cope never hypothesized it, we suggest renaming it after Depéret, who formulated
it clearly in 1907. Depéret's rule has traditionally been studied using fossil data, but more rece...
The vertebrate-bearing beds of the Laño quarry (Condado de Treviño) are among the most relevant sites from the Late Cretaceous of Europe. Geologically, Laño and the adjacent region are set on the southern limb of the South-Cantabrian Synclinorium (SE Basque-Cantabrian Region, northern Iberian Peninsula). The Laño sites were discovered in 1984; thou...
Resume— Le gisement paleocene sud-marocain de l’Adrar Mgorn recele les plus anciens Mammiferes placentaires africains, dont la plupart sont les premiers reconnus dans le domaine sud-tethysien. L’identification, parmi eux, d’« Insectivores » paleoryctides, tres proches des genres strictement nord-americains Cimolestes et Palaeoryctes (Cretace superi...
We report the discovery in Mesozoic continental “red beds” of Anoual Syncline, Morocco, of the new Guelb el Ahmar (GEA) fossiliferous sites in the Bathonian Anoual Formation. They produced one of the richest continental biotic assemblages from the Jurassic of Gondwana, including plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Both the sedimentological facie...
The Rhaetian locality of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (France) has yielded the most abundant and diverse mammalian assemblage known from the Late Triassic. Most of the material remains undescribed. We review here the morganucodonts from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port. We identify the upper and lower molariforms of the genus Brachyzostrodon. We also identify in the...
While key early(iest) fossils were recently discovered for several crown afrotherian mammal orders, basal afrotherians, e.g., early Cenozoic species that comprise sister taxa to Paenungulata, Afroinsectiphilia or Afrotheria, are nearly unknown, especially in Africa. Possible stem condylarth-like relatives of the Paenungulata (hyraxes, sea-cows, ele...
The well-known Maastrichtian–Ypresian vertebrate-bearing phosphate series, in the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco, is classically dated using regional selachian biostratigraphic zonation. These marine sediments yielded Paleocene and Eocene mammals comprising the earliest known placentals from Africa. This study provides the first insight into the organ...
A collection of terrestrial and freshwater snails from the Late Eocene to earliest Early Oligocene Zalumah Formation at Wadi Darbat, near Salalah, Oman is of importance on account of its taxonomic composition, its palaeoecological indications and its biogeographic affinities which are clearly tropical African; these are very different from the exta...
Fossil biogenic apatites were studied for their geochemical composition across the late Cretaceous–early Eocene Moroccan phosphate series in the Ouled Abdoun and Ganntour basins in Morocco in order to characterize paleoenvironmental conditions and to improve stratigraphy. The vertebrate remains show particularly good structural, mineralogical and c...
Hyaenodontida are represented in Europe by three subfamilies: Proviverrinae, Arfianinae and Sinopaninae. Here, we review all the specimens of Arfianinae and Sinopaninae known to date in Europe and Asia. A new Galecyon species is erected: Galecyon gallus nov. sp. We discuss the taxonomic position of the two Asian hyaenodontidans Anthracoxyaena palus...
We describe here “miacid” taxa from the Early Eocene Paris Basin locality of Le Quesnoy (Oise, France). We describe the new species Vassacyon taxidiotis, the first European record of this genus. The other “miacids” identified from Le Quesnoy are Miacis latouri and Gracilocyon solei. The P4 of G. solei is described here for the first time. Its morph...
Abstract: Skeletal remains (cephalic bones, coronoid teeth and vertebrae) of Amiid fishes belonging to the genus Cyclurus AGASSIZ have been collected during excavations made by a joint Romanian and French team in the Upper Palaeocene of Jibou (Sãlaj department, Transylvania). It is the first known occurrence of the genus Cyclurus Agassiz in the Pal...
Micrometer-sized spherical and rod-shaped forms have been reported in many phosphorites and often interpreted as microbes fossilized by apatite, based on their morphologic resemblance with modern bacteria inferred by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations. This interpretation supports models involving bacteria in the formation of phosphori...
New mammal material from the Campano-Maastrichtian locality of Laño, Spanish Basque Country documents two new zhelestid eutherian species referred to the genus Lainodon. This material enlightens the Upper molar pattern of the European zhelestids and confirms their originality and homogeneity. The European zhelestids are included in the new subfamil...
Early Paleogene mammal faunas from western Asia remain very poorly documented, and the few fossil data currently available raise more issues than they provide answers regarding the palaeobiogeography of the Peri-Tethys area during a key period for the diversification and dispersal of modern group of mammals. Parabunodon anatolicum is an ungulate ma...
We describe and compare in detail the oldest know proboscidean Eritherium azzouzorum from the Paleocene phosphate beds (early local Thanetian = Selandian, ca. 60 mys) of the Ouled Abdoun basin, Morocco. Eritherium azzouzorum is one of the best and rare species of an extant placental order known before the Eocene. It is documented by most of the den...
A great number of microstructures described as fossilized microbial bodies have been described in phosphorites of all ages in the past years (e.g., [1]). Most of these putative fossils have been identified based on their morphology (sizes and shapes) using SEM observations only. However, this approach might be misleading since micrometer-sized calc...
India's Late Cretaceous fossil mammals include the only undisputed pre-Tertiary Gondwanan eutherians, such as Deccanolestes. Recent studies have suggested a relationship between Deccanolestes and African and European Paleocene adapisoriculids, which have been variably identified as stem euarchontans, stem primates, lipotyphlan insectivores, or afro...
The locality of Le Quesnoy (France; MP7) has yielded a diversified mammal fauna including especially large mammals. Oxyaenidae are well documented with two spe-cies identified: Oxyaena woutersi and Palaeonictis gigantea. The Le Quesnoy material illustrates almost the entire dentition of these species. Its study supports the generic attribution of O...
Paleontological fieldwork between 1998–2005 by the Eyasi Plateau Expedition at Laetoli and nearby sites produced a large collection
of proboscidean fossils from the early to mid Pliocene Lower and Upper Laetolil Beds and late Pliocene Upper Ndolanya Beds,
and possibly older sediments at Endolele, that substantially enlarges the sample of proboscide...