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Tazoudasaurus

Allain et al., 2004 tuh-ZOO-duh-SOR-us

Named after Tazouda, one of the fossil localities near Toundoute in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'

192.9–174.7 million years ago Pliensbachian–Toarcian, Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic stages

Tazoudasaurus is a genus of gravisaurian (probably vulcanodontid) sauropod dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic. It was recovered in the "Toundoute Continental Series", located in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco in North Africa. Along with Patagosaurus, Volkheimeria, Bagualia, and Perijasaurus (perhaps Barapasaurus and Kotasaurus as well), it represents one of the few sauropods named from this interval on Gondwana, as well as the only one from Africa.

Diagnosis

  1. Thin bony plate extending from posterodorsal margin of postorbital
  2. Distal chevrons forked with unfused anterior and posterior processes
  3. Prominent crest on lateral surface of proximal end of fibula
  4. Opisthocoelous cervical vertebral centra
  5. Wrinkled dental enamel
  6. D-shaped tooth crowns with denticulate margins
  7. 20 dentary teeth with non-overlapping crowns
  8. V-shaped mandibular symphysis
  9. Elliptical femur cross-section in midshaft

Species

Tazoudasaurus naimi Allain et al., 2004

Type species

A Latinization of the Berber word for 'slender', referring to the animal's small size relative to other sauropods.

Holotype
SGM To 2000-1 , Service Géologique du Maroc, Ministére de l’Energie et des Mines
Material
Partially articulated skeleton with cranial material: complete left mandible, quadrate, jugal, postorbital, parietal, frontal and exoccipital; ~9 m long.
Notes
Allain and Aquesbi (2008) catalog the same individual by element in the Service Géologique du Maroc collections, among them the left mandible CPSGM To1-275, a tooth To1-20, three dorsal vertebrae To1-38, a chevron To1-129, the right pubis To1-103, the right astragalus To1-31, a pedal ungual To1-114 and the left metatarsal II To1-265; the left postorbital and right quadrate carry only "CPSGM To1".
Horizon
Pliensbachian–Toarcian, Early Jurassic , 192.9–174.7 million years ago
Locality
Douar of Tazouda, locality B, Ouarzazate, Morocco The Toundoute continental series is an informal succession about 300 m thick that is not subdivided into formal stratigraphic units. Allain and colleagues (2008) suggest it is laterally equivalent to the Toarcian Azilal and Wazzant formations, a hypothesis rather than an assignment.

References

  1. Allain, R.; Aquesbi, N.; Dejax, J.; Meyer, C.; Monbaron, M.; Montenat, C.; Richir, P.; Rochdy, M.; Russell, D.; Taquet, P. (2004). A basal sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Morocco. Comptes Rendus Palevol 3(3): 199-208. Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2004.03.001 allain2004a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  3. Allain, R.; Aquesbi, N. (2008). Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Tazoudasaurus naimi (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the late Early Jurassic of Morocco. Geodiversitas 30(2): 345-424. allain2008a