S253 - Stunning Large Zarafasaura oceanis (Elasmosaur) Partially Rooted Tooth - Late Cretaceous

An exceptionally large and well-preserved specimen. It retains partially its natural root, making it even more spectacular. Its enamel has wonderful caramel colors. It has no restorations whatsoever, only a clean fracture that has been glued.

Elasmosaurus teeth from the Upper Cretaceous from the Oulad Abdoun Basin are relatively more scarce than the Mosasaur ones. This huge and famous marine reptile is characterized by its long and stylized neck. Its morphology enabled it being a very specialized marine predator. Until 2011, this taxon was classified as Plesiosaurus mauritanicus. However, a later publication by Vincent et al, 2011, did a revision on this species and decides to rename it as Zarafasaura oceanis.

Next you can find a link to an interesting scientific paper about this species: Zarafasaura Oceanis

The Ouled Abdoun Basin (or Khouribga Basin), located in the central sector of Morocco, is an enormous sedimentarian basin represented mostly by a vast filling of phosphate sediments. Apart from having a relevant raw material to be extracted, it has a series of very important paleontological sites in which amazing assemblages from big and small marine vertebrates are present. The basin has a so great continuity in its stratigraphic record that both the Upper Cretaceous as well as the two first epochs of the Paleogene (Paleocene and Eocene) can be studied.

The main assemblage of vertebrate fossils of the Paleogene sector present there is composed by sharks, fish, turtles, marine snakes, rays, crocodiles, other types of reptiles and even birds. In the Cretaceous part we can add Mosasaurs, Pterosaurs and Plesiosaurs, including some rare Theropod Dinosaurs as a new Abelisaurid (Chenanisaurus barbaricus), as well as one Hadrosaurid (Ajnabia odysseus). Also present in the Cretaceous a huge diversity of sharks and fishes. 

Next you can visit a link with very interesting information about this sedimentarian basin rich in fossil vertebrates: Ouled Abdoun Basin