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The first discovery of duck-billed fossils in Africa offers insight into how dinosaurs might have crossed the open ocean to reach the continent.
An international team of researchers published their findings in the journal Cretaceous Research, detailing the discovery of a new dinosaur called Ajnabia odysseus. The fossil of the new species of duckbill was found embedded in rocks in Morocco, dating back to the end of the Cretaceous period about 66 million years ago.
The new species is a member of the same group as the duck-billed dinosaurs, Hadrosauridae, which are mostly herbivores and grew to a length of nearly 50 feet (15 meters). This new species, however, was relatively small at only 10 feet (3 meters) long.
An out of place discovery
Members of the hadrosaur family have their origins in what is now North America, and later migrated and covered parts of South America, Asia, and Europe. On the other hand, Africa was an isolated island continent during the Upper Cretaceous, separated by deep waterways, which gave rise to the idea that duck-billed dinosaurs could not have reached the African continent.
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It explains why the recent discovery of a separate species of duckbill in a mine located a few hours from Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, was “the last thing the world would expect,” according to Dr. Nicholas Longrich, study leader of the Milner Center for Evolution at the University of Bath in England. In a University press release, Dr. Longrich compared the archaeological dig to “finding a kangaroo in Scotland.” The question is how this species of duckbill got to a place completely surrounded by deep water.
A study of the duckbill’s distinctive dental profile and its jaw placed it as a member of the Lambeosaurinae, a subgroup below the duckbill dinosaurs characterized by a large, bony crest on the top of its head. These crested duckbills also first evolved in North America before moving to Asia and Europe. Members of the lambeosaurus have not been found before in Africa.
Reaching africa
By reconstructing the phylogenetic tree of duckbills, the researchers proposed that lambeosaurs could have evolved in North America before crossing a land bridge to the Asian landmass. They moved alongside what is now Europe before crossing to the African continent.
Due to the physical separation of Africa from the other continents with waters, hundreds of kilometers wide, the duckbills could have reached the new continent by rafting on debris, floating or even swimming. The researchers raised the possibility that duckbills were powerful swimmers, a fact supported by the presence of large tails and powerful legs reconstructed from previously discovered specimens. Additionally, most duck-billed fossils were found embedded in marine rocks or around river deposits, making swimming possible.
“Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” Longrich noted. While it was impossible to just walk all the way to Africa at the time, he pointed out that duckbills evolved long after continental drift pulled Africa away from the rest. This leaves the possibility of reaching Africa only by water.
The name of the new species, Ajnabia odysseus, comes from the Arabic word for “foreigner” (Ajnabi), and the famous sailor in Greek literature, Odysseus or Ulysses for the Romans.
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