Search

The 2017 field survey of the Ashawq Formation, Dhofar, Oman, resulted in the collection of large mammal remains, most of which belong to Afrotheria, but with one artiodactyl lineage indicating the possibility of dispersal links with Eurasia. The new fossil remains increase our knowledge about the dental anatomy of the endemic lophodont proboscidean genus Omanitherium, revealing, in particular, that it possessed two pairs of lower incisors. For the first time, a palaeomastodont is recorded from the Arabian Peninsula. Additional remains of Arsinoitherium, a hyracoid and an anthracothere from the formation are described.

Fieldwork in the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Al-Khod Conglomerates in the Sultanate of Oman led to the discovery of a large bone fragment tentatively identified as a partial distal left humerus of a sauropod and an ornithopod dorsal vertebra. The very fragmentary state of preservation of the dorsal vertebra makes specific attribution difficult, but it shows remarkable similarities to the rhabdodontid dinosaurs Rhabdodon and Zalmoxes.

Fragmentary post-cranial remains (femora, tibia, vertebrae) of ornithischian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of the Sultanate of Oman are described and referred to hadrosauroids. The specimens come from the Al-Khod Conglomerate, of latest Campanian to Maastrichtian age, in the north-eastern part of the country. Although the fragmentary condition of the fossils precludes a precise identification, various characters, including the shape of the fourth trochanter of the femur and the morphology of its distal end, support an attribution to hadrosauroids. With the possible exception of a possible phalanx from Angola, this group of ornithopod dinosaurs, which apparently originated in Laurasia, was hitherto unreported from the Afro-Arabian plate. From a paleobiogeographical point of view, the presence of hadrosauroids in Oman in all likelihood is a result of trans-Tethys dispersal from Asia or Europe, probably by way of islands in the Tethys shown on all recent paleogeographical maps of that area. Whether hadrosauroids were widespread on the Afro-Arabian landmass in the latest Cretaceous, or where restricted to the «Oman island»shown on some paleogeographical maps, remains to be determined

Two apparently new crocodilian taxa from the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian–Maastrichtian) Al-Khod Conglomerate of the Sultanate of Oman are described. The fragmentary state of preservation precludes formal naming, yet enables comparisons to be made with other taxa. One is a short-snouted terrestrial species showing affinities to Trematochampsidae based on similarities shared with Trematochampsa oblita ; the other, an aquatic neosuchian, is related to longirostrine crocodiles with rather short splenials at the symphysis. The material supplies more evidence of similarities between the crocodilian faunas of Afro-Arabia and Madagascar. Currently, the Al-Khod fauna represents one of the better known, albeit otherwise poorly documented, Mesozoic vertebrate faunas from the Middle East.

A caudal vertebra collected from conglomerates of the Al-Khod Formation (Late Cretaceous) in the Al-Khod area, Sultanate of Oman, is assigned to a medium-sized theropod dinosaur. The Al-Khod discovery represents one of the very few dinosaur records from the Middle East.