Late Jurassic Africa

from the Dinosaur Collector

Fossils from the few other Gondwana sites in the Late Jurassic are scrappy. Tendaguru East Africa the best southern site known mirrors the Morrison Fauna of North America. Prior to World War 1 a German team excavated in East Africa.  Late Jurassic Tendaguru is a warm coastal plain subject to periodic possibly season droughts.  The fauna is dominated by the sauropods Dicraeosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Barosaurus, Tornieria and Janenschia.  The stegosaur Kentrosaurus and hypsilophidont Dryosaurus are common.  The carnivores Allosaurus, Elaphrosaurus and Ceratosaurus are present. This the traditional view in popular publications. It was the center piece of the idea of a cosmopolitan sauropod fauna in the Late Jurassic. If accepted it would indicate land connections between North America, Europe and Africa still existed in the Late Jurassic. The stegosaur Kentrosaurus is similar to the stegosaurs found in Asia. Dicraeosaurus represents a branch of the diplodocid family not found in the northern continents. The other sauropods are merged into North American groups. Barosaurus  and Allosaurus are both known from North America and Africa.  Barosaurus is a  rare close relative of Diplodocus.  Its presence at sites across the world shows the close contact between the continents at the time. Camptosaurus is known from Europe and North America and may well have occurred in Africa.  Its smaller relative Dryosaurus has been found in Africa.  

UPDATED 8/01/06

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 The sauropods from Tendengaru have gone through a series of names changes which make reading the sources very confusing to a layman because the same animal has several different names. You can find names that actually refer to the same animal presented as different animals in the same reference. As best as I can follow the course of events is that originally two diplodocids were found and named Gigatosaurus africanus and Gigatosaurus robustus. Since the name Gigatosaurus was already used the names were later changed to Tornieria africanus and Tornieria robustus. Next Tornieria africanus is described as a diplodocid closely related to Diplodocus and Barosaurus. Based on the elongated neck vertebrates it was then considered a species of Barosaurus. So Barosaurus africanus replaces Tornieria africanus. This makes Tornieria a junior synonym for Barosaurus so it can't be used by another animal. That means Tornieria robustus needed a new name. The new name was Janenschia robustus. Exactly where Janenschia falls is debated it might be a titanosaurus the oldest known member of the family that dominated Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous. A common view is that it is a composite of fossils from more than one type of animal. Tendengaru fossils were not found articulated so deciding what belongs to who can be problematic. A further complication is that much of the original material was destroyed during World War 2 and no new excavations have been attempted. Most recently Barosaurus africanus has been revised again. It was redescribed and identified as a relative of but distinct from Barosaurus. So Tornieria is revived for africanus but not for Janenschia which may not be valid in any case. Not all the various name changes are accepted by all professionals.

The Jasman Apatosaurus from their dioramas series represents  Janenschia which it would have resembled.  The two Panini Camptosaurus figures are in the center.  The Allosaurus is from the Kaiyodo as is the rearing Barosaurus for Tornieria.  The figure is based on the display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

From East Africa Brachiosaurus brancai (arm lizard) at 98 feet in length is the the high browser at Tendengaru  and Camptosaurus is the largest known orinithischian at 20 feet. Giraffatitan brancaiis (giraffe titan) a new genus proposed for Brachiosaurus brancai based on differences in the bones recovered. Even if this is accepted the relationship to the North America brachiosaurs is close.

The Camptosaurus figures are from the excellent National Geographic Micro Machine series.  The Brachiosaurus is an aquarium ornament.

The 17 foot Kentrosaurus is a smaller relative of the American stegosaurs.  The shoulder spike is common in stegosaurs from Asia but not known in North America.  Older representations place the spike on the hip but based on finds in China it now placed on the shoulder.

The Kentrosaurus figure seen above was marketed by Tyco as part of the Dino Riders series with figures and accessories.  The figure was also rereleased with the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs toy sets base yet another cartoon series and finally as the Smithsonian series.  Tyco was in the vanguard of the trend in recent decades to produce high quality articulated toy series.  This in many ways culminated in the Hasbro Jurassic Park figures. 

The medium size Dicraeosaurus is another relative of Diplodocus and is characterized by high back bones that would have given it a humped back look. Dicraeosaurus represents a branch of the diplodocid family not found in the northern continents. There is an implied relationship to fauna now being found in patagonia. Relatives are found into the Cretaceous in South America.  Ceratosaurus and other theropods are implied from scrappy finds.

Ral Partha while best known for its RPG and miniatures figures produced a series of high quality lead and pewter figures.

Allosaurus is the most wide spread theropod of the Jurassic but with many of the associations based on questionable finds.  The key defining features are the three fingered claws and horn above the eyes.

This articulated Allosaurus is from the Hasbro Jurassic Park series and a personal favorite.

There has been speculation that Allosaurus hunted in packs and maintained den sites for its young.  Most scholars agree that the skeletons currently in museums attributed to Allosaurus represent two different animals.

The Kentrosaurus is from an old Kaiyodo resin kit and the Allosaurus is from Toyways walking with Dinosaurs line.  The figure is an accurate copy of Big Al including the misplaced eye horn. 

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