Open Paleo

Taleta

Longrich et al., 2025 tuh-LAH-tuh

From Arabic 'taleta' (three), in reference to this being the third duck-billed dinosaur recovered from Couche III of the Moroccan phosphates, after Ajnabia odysseus and Minqaria bata.

72.2–66.0 million years ago Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Taleta is an extinct genus of arenysaurin lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian Couche III of the Oulad Abdoun Basin (Sidi Chennane mines, Central Morocco), a shallow-marine phosphorite depositional setting. The single species, Taleta taleta, is known from associated left and right maxillae of a single individual (MHNM.KH.1557) preserving in-situ dentition; phylogenetic analysis recovers it within Arenysaurini, forming an African clade with Ajnabia odysseus and Minqaria bata. Longrich and colleagues (2025) interpret the three Moroccan arenysaurins as a dispersal-driven adaptive radiation seeded from southern Europe.

Diagnosis

  1. Ectopterygoid ridge positioned high (dorsally) on the lateral surface of the maxilla.
  2. Alveolar margin higher laterally than medially, such that alveoli open ventrolaterally.
  3. Single functional tooth per maxillary tooth family.
  4. Maxillary teeth greatly enlarged, with crowns obliquely oriented and raked backwards relative to the alveolar margin.
  5. Primary ridge of maxillary teeth extremely tall and prominent, roughly doubling the mediolateral width of the crown, and interlocking with the alveolar margin.
  6. Toothrow very straight in both lateral and ventral views.

Species

Taleta taleta Longrich et al., 2025

Type species

Tautonymous with the genus name; from Arabic 'taleta' (three), again referring to this being the third Moroccan lambeosaurine.

Holotype
MHNM.KH.1557 , Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Marrakech
Material
Associated left and right maxillae of a single individual, preserving in-situ dentition.
Horizon
upper Couche III Member, Phosphates of the Oulad Abdoun Basin Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Sidi Chennane, Khouribga, Morocco

References

  1. Longrich, N. R.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X.; Bardet, N.; Jalil, N. E. (2025). A new hadrosaurid dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco provides evidence for an African radiation of lambeosaurines. Gondwana Research 145: 142-151. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2025.05.006

    Erects Taleta taleta as the third Moroccan arenysaurin (after Ajnabia and Minqaria); argues for an African dispersal-driven radiation of lambeosaurines from southern Europe.

    longrich2025a