''Minqaria'' (meaning "beak") is a genus of lambeosaurine dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous (

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

) Ouled Abdoun Basin of Morocco. The genus contains a single species, ''Minqaria bata'', known from a partial skull.

Discovery and naming

Lambeosaurinae fossil localities in Morocco

The ''Minqaria''

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen, MHNM.KHG.1395, was discovered in sediments of the Oulad Abdoun Basin (upper Couche III, Sidi Chennane locality) of Morocco. The specimen consists of a partial skull, including a right

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

, left

dentary In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone ...

, and

braincase In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, brain-pan, or brainbox, is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calv ...

. In 2024, Longrich et al. described ''Minqaria bata'' as a new genus and species of arenysaurin hadrosaurid based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Minqaria''", is

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for "beak". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, "''bata''", is Arabic for "duck".

Description

''Minqaria'' is estimated to have a length of about and a weight of , similar in size to its contemporary relative ''

Ajnabia ''Ajnabia'' (meaning "stranger" or "foreigner") is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Morocco. It is the first definitive hadrosaur from Africa and is thought to be related to European hadrosaurs like ' ...

''. Since the braincase bones are fused, the ''Minqaria'' holotype likely belonged to a mature specimen despite its small size. It can be differentiated from other arenysaurins, including ''Ajnabia'', in several features of its crania and teeth.

Classification

Longrich et al. (2024) placed ''Minqaria'' in a

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data ...

and found it to belong to the hadrosaurid clade Arenysaurini in a clade containing ''

'', also known from the Ouled Abdoun Basin, and other Moroccan lambeosaurines; they are linked in their phylogenetic analysis by a single biogeographical character. Their

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

is shown below:

Palaeoecology

Late Maastrichtian dinosaurs from the Moroccan Phosphates

The holotype specimen was recovered from the phosphates of the Ouled Abdoun Basin of north-central

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. The phosphates are a nearshore marine environment dominated by sharks, fish,

mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') are an extinct group of large aquatic reptiles within the family Mosasauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in ...

, and other marine reptiles. Dinosaurs are less common, however, but include at least three hadrosaurids, including fellow lambeosaurines ''Ajnabia'' and '' Taleta'', the large

abelisaurid Abelisauridae (meaning "Abel's lizards") is a family (or clade) of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are foun ...

'' Chenanisaurus barbaricus'', two other potentially distinct abelisaurids of smaller size, and an unnamed

titanosauria Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of Sauropoda, sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with tax ...

n. Moroccan lambeosaurine fossils belonging to individuals of various sizes, including the holotype of ''Minqaria'', indicate that hadrosaurs were diverse and abundant within the ecosystem. These dinosaurs would have lived in the very latest Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian) approximately 1 million years before the K-Pg boundary and the Chicxulub asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Palaeobiogeography

Hadrosaurs, the taxonomic group ''Minqaria'' is assigned to, had not been documented from Africa until the discovery of the contemporary ''

''; their closest lambeosaurine relatives are all known from Europe. Given this taxonomic position and reconstructions of Late Cretaceous continents and seas,

oceanic dispersal Oceanic dispersal is a type of biological dispersal that occurs when Terrestrial animal, terrestrial organisms transfer from one land mass to another by way of a sea crossing. Island hopping is the crossing of an ocean by a series of shorter jour ...

between Europe and North Africa is considered the only viable explanation for the presence of hadrosaurs like ''Minqaria'' and ''Ajnabia'' in Africa. While oceanic dispersal has been considered for the distribution of European hadrosaurs, intermittent land connections as a means of dispersal can not be ruled out. The much more prominent oceanic barrier between Europe and Africa, characterized by deep waters, makes ''Ajnabia'' far stronger evidence of this phenomenon, as varying conditions could narrow the gap but not conceivably bridge it entirely. Further evidence for the oceanic dispersal as the model for lambeosaur dispersal also exists from the lack of a complete interchange of fauna between locations, expected from land bridge dispersal. Possible means of dispersal include swimming, drifting, or rafting (wherein animals are transported on top of floating debris or vegetation). Rafting is considered unlikely for a large animal, but it may be possible that young hadrosaurs could be transported this way. LateCretaceousMap

More broadly speaking, the Maastrichtian fauna of the Northern African ecosystem ''Minqaria'' inhabited seems biogeographically linked more to

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

n faunas—that is, those of the southern continents—than those of Europe and the other

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...

n continents of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

. While Laurasia is characterized by

tyrannosaurid Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to fifteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera ...

s and herbivorous

coelurosaur Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow-tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, ty ...

s, Gondwana is dominated by titanosaurs and abelisaurs, as seen in Morocco. Despite this, a degree of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

is noted, similar to that of other Gondwanan continents. A small abelisaur from the Sidi Daoui region is unlike those from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

but may be related to North African forms from earlier in the Cretaceous or similarly sized abelisaurs in Europe; likewise, ''Chenanisaurus'' may represent a distinct lineage from other known abelisaurs. Inversely, other Gondwanan animals from South America, such as

ankylosaur Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade 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 l ...

s, unenlagiines,

elasmaria Elasmaria is a clade of Ornithopoda, ornithopods known from Cretaceous deposits in the former Gondwana (South America, Antarctica, Australia, and possibly Africa) that contains many bipedal ornithopods that were previously considered Hypsilophodo ...

ns, and megaraptorids, are not documented in Africa. This endemism is explained by the fragmentation of the former Gondwanan supercontinent into increasingly distant landmasses, leading to the ancestrally linked faunas of different southern continents becoming distinct. Even within the African continent, the presence of a Trans-Saharan seaway connecting the

Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...

of Europe to the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

may have isolated the fauna of Northern Africa from more southern portions of the continent, such as fossil-bearing sites in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and Morocco itself may have been an isolated island.

References