Minqaria

MEANING: Duck beak

PERIOD: Late Cretaceous

CONTINENT: Africa

Lambeosaurines are mostly known from the northern continents. Lacking land bridges in the Late Cretaceous, the discovery of Minqaria in Northern Africa suggests they arrived via oceanic dispersal. Upon arriving, they diversified in competition with the southern herbivores, resulting in a smaller size. Minqaria is estimated at around 3.5 m in length.

Abstract from paper: In the Late Cretaceous, northern and southern hemispheres evolved distinct dinosaurian faunas. Titanosaurians and abelisaurids dominated the Gondwanan continents; hadrosaurids, ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs dominated North America and Asia. Recently, a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid, Ajnabia odysseus, was reported from the late Maastrichtian phosphates of the Oulad Abdoun Basin Morocco, suggesting dispersal between Laurasia and Gondwana. Here we report new fossils from the phosphates of Morocco showing lambeosaurines achieved high diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa. A skull represents a new dwarf lambeosaurine, Minqaria bata. Minqaria resembles Ajnabia odysseus in size, but differs in the ventrally positioned jugal facet and sinusoidal toothrow. The animal is small, ~ 3.5 m long, but the fused braincase shows it was mature. A humerus and a femur belong to larger hadrosaurids, ~ 6 m long, implying at least three species coexisted. The diversity of hadrosaurids in Europe and Africa suggests a dispersal-driven radiation, with lambeosaurines diversifying to take advantage of low ornithischian diversity. African lambeosaurines are small compared to North American and Asia hadrosaurids however, perhaps due to competition with titanosaurians. Hadrosaurids are unknown from eastern Africa, suggesting Moroccan hadrosaurids may be part of a distinct insular fauna, and represent an island radiation.

Minqaria is from the Late Cretaceous. The Cretaceous is the third and final geological period of the Mesozoic Era, with the Late Cretaceous making up roughly the second half of it, lasting from about 100 to 66 million years ago. It was a time of significant evolutionary change, with dinosaurs reaching their greatest diversity before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.

The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, though the Late Cretaceous experienced a global cooling trend, caused by falling levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The continents were nearing their present positions, but high sea levels flooded low-lying regions, turning Europe into an archipelago, and forming the Western Interior Seaway in North America. These seas were home to a variety of marine reptiles, including mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, while pterosaurs and birds shared the skies.

On land, dinosaurs continued to thrive and diversify during the Late Cretaceous, producing many of the most well-known groups, including tyrannosaurs, hadrosaurs, and pachycephalosaurs. Established Cretaceous dinosaur clades like the ceratopsians, ankylosaurs, and dromaeosaurs continued to flourish. Sauropod species consisted almost exclusively of titanosaurs, which seemed to be confined to the Southern Hemisphere for much of the Late Cretaceous. Flowering plants and grasses diversified and spread, becoming the dominant flora similar to what we see today.

The Cretaceous (along with the Mesozoic) ended with the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event, a large mass extinction in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, died out. This event, likely triggered by an asteroid impact, is marked by the abrupt K-Pg boundary, a distinct geologic layer separating the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras. In its aftermath, mammals and avian dinosaurs rapidly diversified, becoming the dominant land animals of the Cenozoic Era.

Minqaria is a lambeosaurine hadrosaur. The hadrosauridae, often called "duck-billed dinosaurs," were some of the most successful herbivores of the Late Cretaceous. They belonged to the broader group of ornithopods within the ornithischia, and were especially notable for their complex rows of tightly packed teeth, or dental batteries, that allowed them to efficiently process tough plant material. Hadrosaurs came in a wide range of sizes and shapes, but many shared traits like broad beaks, strong hindlimbs, and often elaborate crests on their heads. They were widespread, thriving across North America, Asia, and Europe, and represent one of the final flourishing groups of non-avian dinosaurs before the end-Cretaceous extinction.

Lambeosaurinae is a major subgroup of hadrosaurs, best known for their distinctive hollow, elaborate cranial crests. These crests varied greatly in shape and size between species and are thought to have played roles in visual display, species recognition, and possibly even vocal communication through resonating sounds. Lambeosaurines generally had more lightly built bodies compared to their sister group, the saurolophinae, and tended to favor more forested or coastal environments. This showcases an incredible diversity of forms as they flourished across North America and Asia during the Late Cretaceous.