Rare (undescribed) sauropod skull

[Archeognathus1988]

Good evening! I received something very special. A part (orbital and nasal bones) of a sauropod skull! It comes from the Ifezouane formation of the Kem Kem basin in Morocco. Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian stage, around 96 Mio years. It isn't prepared completely but I think it is an astonishing specimen. In cretaceous Morocco there are remains (mostly teeth and a few vertebrae as far as I know) from a rebbachisaurid and one or more titanosaurid(s). All not officially described. The skull doesn't seem to match a rebbachisaurid, I tend to say it resembles more some kind of Macronarian sauropod skulls. So perhaps from one of the mysterious titanosaurs??

Oh and the piece measures a good 24cm.

I'm curious what you Guys think!

[rocket]

interesting find, my opinion is: Spino

[Anomotodon]

Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a sauropod, or dinosaurian in general. A few reasons: 1) what looks like a sagittal crest running along the entire length; 2) significantly protruding orbits; 3) dorso-ventral compression; 4) extreme elongation of the process (which would be maxillary if this was a sauropod); 5) lack of a whole bunch of relevant foramena; 6) bone texture on the dorsal side is not typical of dinosaur skull bones; 7) no evidence of external naris (which should be obvious if this was a macronarian skull). I don’t think it’s from any of the Kem Kem theropods either - proportions and morphology doesn’t seem to match anything.

 

I agree this is part of a skull roof, but most likely from a bony fish. There were numerous species of large fish in Kem Kem beds and their bones are often robust and sometimes hard to distinguish from dinosaurian. I am not entirely sure which fish this is, something like Calamopleurus or an Ichthyodectid came to mind. Here is Aidachar (Cladocyclus) skull roof - it’s not a perfect match, but may be in the right direction. It’s a very cool specimen nonetheless!

 

 

and for comparison - skulls of somewhat contemporary macronarians Tapuisaurus and Sarmientosaurus

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Anomotodon

[rocket]

bony fish was my first idea, too, but I was unsure. But, @Anomotodon, explanation fits! 

[Archeognathus1988]

Hmm, Ok. There is quiet a similarity between my specimen and the picture of the  Cladocyclus braincase. I don't know much about mesozoic fish and have just read the paper about it from 2015. Are these fossils rare in Morocco?

Edited 3 hours ago by Archeognathus1988

[jpc]

Excellent detective work, Anomotodon.  I agree... fish.  

[Anomotodon]

3 hours ago, Archeognathus1988 said:

Hmm, Ok. There is quiet a similarity between my specimen and the picture of the  Cladocyclus braincase. I don't know much about mesozoic fish and have just read the paper about it from 2015. Are these fossils rare in Morocco?

I’ve seen teeth available commercially, but any skull material from Kem Kem is quite uncommon.