''Tataouinea'' is an extinct genus of

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

in the subfamily

Rebbachisaurinae Rebbachisaurinae is a subfamily within the family Rebbachisauridae, defined to include '' Rebbachisaurus garasbae'' and exclude ''Limaysaurus tessonei''. It was first proposed as a rank by Jose Bonaparte in 1995, to include ''Rebbachisaurus''. So ...

Rebbachisauridae Rebbachisauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains from the Cretaceous of South America, Africa, North America, Europe and possibly Central Asia. Taxonomy In 1990 sauropod specialist Jack McIntosh included t ...

which lived in the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. Only one species, ''T. hannibalis'', is known.

Discovery and naming

The first known elements of the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

were discovered in the Aïn el Guettar Formation in 2011 by Aldo Luigi Bacchetta, but he was unable to excavate the specimen until 2012. The remains were subsequently studied by Federico Fanti, Andrea Cau, Mohsen Hassine and Michela Contessi. The genus was named in 2013. The name refers to the Tataouine Governatorate, Tunisia, and

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

. In 2015 more material of the holotype specimen was uncovered after the initial description were analysed. These included additional tail vertebrae.

Description

Its bones were extensively pneumatic, providing strong support for the theory that sauropods had

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

like respiratory systems. Key characteristics of its vertebral morphology show that ''Tatouinea'' was a

rebbachisaurid Rebbachisauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains from the Cretaceous of South America, Africa, North America, Europe and possibly Central Asia. Taxonomy In 1990 sauropod specialist Jack McIntosh included t ...

, closely related to the nigersaurines of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. A phylogenetic analysis was published alongside the paper, finding a clade of nigersaurines to include ''

Rebbachisaurus ''Rebbachisaurus'' (meaning "Khebbash, Aït Rebbach lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the superfamily Diplodocoidea, that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in Africa and possibly also South America about 99-97 million years ago. R ...

'', thus forcing the subfamily to be renamed Rebbachisaurinae. The exact size of ''Tataouinea'' is unknown, but comparison to similar sauropods indicates a size of about meters long and a height of around at the hips for the holotype individual.

Etymology

The genus name bears the name of the region where it was discovered,

Tataouine Tataouine ( ber, Tiṭṭawin; ar, تطاوين) is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the ...

, and the epithet honours

, a

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

military commander.

Classification

''Tataouinea'' was placed in the

by Fanti ''et al.'' (2015). The 2015 cladogram of Fanti ''et al.'' is shown below.

Paleoecology

''Tataouinea'' was discovered in the Jebel El Mra Member or the nearby Oum ed Diab Member of the

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

Aïn el Guettar Formation. It coexisted with an unnamed

carcharodontosaurid Carcharodontosauridae (carcharodontosaurids; from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, ''carcharodontósauros'': "shark-toothed lizards") is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931, Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae ...

, ''

Carcharodontosaurus ''Carcharodontosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of large carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous in Northern Africa. The genus ''Carcharodontosaurus'' is named after the shark genus ''Carcha ...

'', ''

Spinosaurus ''Spinosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. The genus was known first fro ...

'', the

notosuchian Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosu ...

Araripesuchus ''Araripesuchus'' is a genus of extinct crocodyliform that existed during the Cretaceous period of the late Mesozoic era some 125 to 66 million years ago. Six species of ''Araripesuchus'' are currently known. They are generally considered to be n ...

'', an unnamed

, an unnamed

iguanodont Iguanodontia (the iguanodonts) is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include ''Camptosaurus'', ''Dryosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', ''Tenontosaurus'', and the hadrosaurids or "duck-bil ...

, an unnamed

ornithocheirid Ornithocheiridae (or ornithocheirids, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cr ...

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

, an unnamed species of ''

Sarcosuchus ''Sarcosuchus'' (; ) is an extinct genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of living crocodilians that lived during the Early Cretaceous, from the late Hauterivian to the early Albian, 133 to 112 million years ago of what is now Africa and ...

'' and a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

known as '' Mawsonia''.BENTON, M. J., BOUAZIZ, S., BUFFETAUT, E., MARTILL, D. M., OUAJA, M., SOUSSI, M. & TRUEMAN, C. (2000): Dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates from fluvial deposits in the Lower Cretaceous of southern Tunisia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 157: 227–246.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q17126082, from2=Q13798416 Rebbachisaurids Albian life Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Africa Cretaceous Tunisia Fossils of Tunisia Fossil taxa described in 2013