Zarafasaura oceanis, a new elasmosaurid (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco and the palaeobiogeography of latest Cretaceous plesiosaurs

Though the Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco have yielded very rich marine vertebrate assemblages, plesiosaurs remain very scarce in these strata. The only hitherto recognized taxon was Plesiosaurus mauritanicus Arambourg, 1952, regarded here as a nomem dubium. Here we describe a new genus and species of elasmosaurid plesiosaur, Zarafasaura oceanis, which represents the first valid elasmosaurid plesiosaur described from the latest Cretaceous of Africa, and the second one from this continent. A phylogenetic analysis of plesiosauroids indicates that Zarafasaura oceanis has close affinities with elasmosaurids from the Late Cretaceous of North America and Japan. Among its distinctive suite of characters, the general shape and organisation of its squamosal and palate are unique among elasmosaurids. This new taxon completes our understanding of Late Cretaceous plesiosaur palaeobiodiversity and palaeobiogeography, and shows that Maastrichtian plesiosaurs were characterized by a quite high degree of endemism. They were also highly diversified and distributed worldwide, which supports the hypothesis of a catastrophic extinction of plesiosaurs at the K/T boundary. (C) 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.