El Mers Formation
The El Mers Group is a geological group in the Middle Atlas of Morocco. It is subdivided into 3 formations named the El Mers 1, 2 and 3 Formations respectively. It is a marine deposit primarily consisting of marl, with gypsum present in the upper part of unit 3. and is the lateral equivalent of the terrestrial Guettioua Sandstone. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group, most notably those of indeterminate theropods (=Allosauridae indet. and =Megalosauridae? indet.),J. Jenny, A. Le Marrec, and M. Monbaron. (1981). Les empreintes de pas de dinosauriens dans le Jurassique moyen du Haut Atlas central (Maroc): nouveaux gisements et precisions stratigraphiques. inosaur footprints in the Middle Jurassic of the central High Atlas (Morocco): new deposits and stratigraphic detailsGeobos. 14(3):427-431 the sauropod ''"Cetiosaurus" mogrebiensis'', the stegosaur ''Adratiklit'', the ankylosaur ''Spicomellus'', the inchnofossil ''Selenichnites'' and an i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bathonian
In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age. Stratigraphic definitions The Bathonian Stage takes its name from Bath, a spa town in England built on Jurassic limestone (the Latinized form of the town name is ''Bathonium''). The name was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist d'Omalius d'Halloy in 1843. The original type locality was located near Bath. The French palaeontologist Alcide d'Orbigny was in 1852 the first to define the exact length of the stage. The base of the Bathonian is at the first appearance of ammonite species '' Parkinsonia (Gonolkites) convergens'' in the stratigraphic column. The global reference profile for the base of the Bathonian (a GSSP) was ratified as Ravin du Bès, Bas-Auran area, Alpes de Haute Provence, France in 2009. The top of the Ba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Megalosauridae
Megalosauridae is a monophyletic family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs within the group Megalosauroidea. Appearing in the Middle Jurassic, megalosaurids were among the first major radiation of large theropod dinosaurs. They were a relatively primitive group of basal tetanurans containing two main subfamilies, Megalosaurinae and Afrovenatorinae, along with the basal genus '' Eustreptospondylus'', an unresolved taxon which differs from both subfamilies. The defining megalosaurid, '' Megalosaurus bucklandii'', was first named and described in 1824 by William Buckland after multiple finds in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, UK. ''Megalosaurus'' was the first formally described dinosaur and was the basis for the establishment of the clade Dinosauria. It is also one of the largest known Middle Jurassic carnivorous dinosaurs, with the best-preserved femur at 805 mm and a proposed body mass of around 943 kg. Megalosauridae has mainly been recognized as a European group of dinos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jurassic System Of Africa
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era and is named after the Jura Mountains, where limestone strata from the period were first identified. The start of the Jurassic was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, associated with the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. The beginning of the Toarcian Stage started around 183 million years ago and is marked by an extinction event associated with widespread oceanic anoxia, ocean acidification, and elevated temperatures likely caused by the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar, Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces. The end of the Jurassic, however, has no clear boundary with the Cretaceous and is the only boundary between geological periods to remain formally undefined. By the beginning of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geologic Formations Of Morocco
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences, including hydrology, and so is treated as one major aspect of integrated Earth system science and planetary science. Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface, and the processes that have shaped that structure. It also provides tools to determine the relative and absolute ages of rocks found in a given location, and also to describe the histories of those rocks. By combining these tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole, and also to demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates. Geologists broadly study the properties and processes of Earth ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Machimosauridae
Machimosauridae is an extinct family of teleosauroid thalattosuchian crocodyliforms. Text was copied from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License The family was first identified in 2016, when fossils of teleosauroid thalattosuchians, including an indeterminate close relative of '' Lemmysuchus'' and ''Machimosaurus'', were described from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Morocco. The family was largely expanded in 2020 when the systematics of Teleosauroidea were re-reviewed. Members of this family generally were larger than the teleosaurids. Classification Machimosauridae is a diverse group of teleosauroids, phylogenetically defined as "the largest clade within Teleosauroidea containing '' Machimosaurus hugii'', but not ''Plagiophthalmosuchus gracilirostris'' and '' Teleosaurus cadomensis''." The members of the Machimosauridae share several unique characters among teleosauroids, which are: * dorsally oriented external ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Teleosauroidea
Teleosauroidea is an extinct superfamily of thalattosuchian crocodyliforms living from the Early Jurassic to 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 Pr .... References Thalattosuchians Animal superfamilies {{Paleo-archosaur-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Selenichnites
''Selenichnites'' (‘moon track’) is a Cambrian to Jurassic trace fossil that has been found on every continent. It consists of crescent-shaped impressions interpreted as resting or burrowing traces of Xiphosura (extinct relatives of horseshoe crabs). The ichnogenus was originally named ''Selenichnus'' in 1987 by M. Romano and M. Whyte, but these investigators renamed it as ''Selenichnites'' in 1990 after it was pointed out that the name ''Selenichnus ''Selenichnus'' is an ichnogenus of dinosaur and or pseudosuchian footprint. See also * List of dinosaur ichnogenera This list of dinosaur ichnogenera is a comprehensive listing of all ichnogenera that have been attributed to dinosaurs, excl ...'' was already in use for a genus of reptile trace fossils. References Arthropod trace fossils Xiphosura {{arthropod-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ichnofossil
A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of parts of organisms' bodies, usually altered by later chemical activity or mineralization. The study of such trace fossils is ichnology and is the work of ichnologists. Trace fossils may consist of impressions made on or in the substrate by an organism. For example, burrows, borings (bioerosion), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints and feeding marks and root cavities may all be trace fossils. The term in its broadest sense also includes the remains of other organic material produced by an organism; for example coprolites (fossilized droppings) or chemical markers (sedimentological structures produced by biological means; for example, the formation of stromatolites). Ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spicomellus
''Spicomellus'' (meaning "collar of spikes") is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived in the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic Period. The type and only known species is ''Spicomellus afer'', named and described in 2021. Its remains were found in the third subunit of the El Mers Group (Bathonian- Callovian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknès, Morocco. The genus name means "spiked collar", from the Latin 'spica' meaning spike, and 'mellum' meaning spiked dog collar and the specific name 'afer' means "the African". During the Jurassic, eurypodan dinosaurs, in particular stegosaurs, were diverse and abundant in Laurasia (nowadays the northern continents), but their remains are extremely rare in Gondwanan deposits, nowadays the southern continents. Nevertheless, the existence of fragmentary remains and trackways in the deposits of Gondwana indicates the presence of eurypodan taxa there. ''Spicomellus'' is the second descri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ankylosaur
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. They are known to have first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous Period. The two main families of Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridae are primarily known from the Northern Hemisphere, but the more basal Parankylosauria are known from southern Gondwana during the Cretaceous. Ankylosauria was first named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1923.Osborn, H. F. (1923). "Two Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs of Mongolia." ''American Museum Novitates'', 95: 1–1/ref> In the Linnaean classification system, the group is usually considered either a suborder or an infraorder. It is contained within the group Thyreophora, which also includes the stegosaurs, armored dinosaurs known for their combination of plat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adratiklit
''Adratiklit'' (meaning "mountain lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur that lived on the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic period (168–164 million years ago). The genus contains a single species, ''Adratiklit boulahfa''. Its remains were found in the El Mers Group, probably in the El Mers II Formation (Bathonian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknes, north Morocco. Eurypodan dinosaurs, in particular stegosaurs, were diverse and abundant in Laurasia (nowadays the northern continents) during the Jurassic, but their remains are extremely rare in deposits of Gondwana, (nowadays the southern continents). Nevertheless, the existence of fragmentary remains and trackways in the deposits of Gondwana indicate the presence of eurypodan taxa there. ''Adratiklit'' is the first described eurypodan taxon from North Africa, as well as the second oldest known stegosaur (being slightly younger than ''Bashanosaurus''), with the possible ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |