From dinosaurs to dyrosaurids (Crocodyliformes): Removal of the post-Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) record of Ornithischia from Africa

Ornithischian dinosaurs are uncommon elements in Late Cretaceous faunal assemblages of many Gondwanan landmasses, particularly Africa. The best-documented post-Cenomanian record of purported ornithischian body fossils from Africa consists of a left humerus, with associated cranial and costal fragments, from the Santonian-Campanian Quseir Formation of Kharga Oasis, Egypt (Fig. 1 ) (Awad and Ghobrial, 1966). We show that this specimen pertains instead to a dyrosaurid crocodyliform, and restrict known African ornithischian body fossils to pre-Turonian sediments. The apparent absence of this dinosaur clade from the post-Cenomanian Late Cretaceous of Africa is probably a consequence of limited sampling; nevertheless, a comparable ornithischian absence from coeval sediments in Madagascar and possibly Indo-Pakistan constitutes a notable faunal similarity among these landmasses.