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Science 13 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5392, pp. 1298 - 1302
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5392.1298
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Reports

A Long-Snouted Predatory Dinosaur from Africa and the Evolution of Spinosaurids

Paul C. Sereno, * Allison L. Beck, Didier B. Dutheil, Boubacar Gado, Hans C. E. Larsson, Gabrielle H. Lyon, Jonathan D. Marcot, Oliver W. M. Rauhut, Rudyard W. Sadleir, Christian A. Sidor, David D. Varricchio, Gregory P. Wilson, Jeffrey A. Wilson

Fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks in the Ténéré Desert of central Niger provide new information about spinosaurids, a peculiar group of piscivorous theropod dinosaurs. The remains, which represent a new genus and species, reveal the extreme elongation and transverse compression of the spinosaurid snout. The postcranial bones include blade-shaped vertebral spines that form a low sail over the hips. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the enlarged thumb claw and robust forelimb evolved during the Jurassic, before the elongated snout and other fish-eating adaptations in the skull. The close phylogenetic relationship between the new African spinosaurid and Baryonyx from Europe provides evidence of dispersal across the Tethys seaway during the Early Cretaceous.

P. C. Sereno, A. L. Beck, H. C. E. Larsson, J. D. Marcot, C. A. Sidor, J. A. Wilson, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. D. B. Dutheil, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 8 rue du Buffon, 75005 Paris, France. B. Gado, Institut pour Recherche et Science Humaine, Republic of Niger. G. H. Lyon, Small Schools Workshop, 115 South Sangamon Street, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. O. W. M. Rauhut, Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK. R. W. Sadleir, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. D. Varricchio, Old Trail Museum, 823 North Main Avenue, Choteau, MT 59422, USA. G. P. Wilson, University of California, Museum of Paleontology, 1101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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