Semi-aquatic Spinosaurus from the Kem Kem beds
Spinosaurus semiacuático de los lechos de Kem Kem
- Date
- 2014 (y 2020) · confidence high
- Place
- Kem Kem, Errachidia, Morocco
- Credited to
- Nizar Ibrahim, Paul Sereno and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A partial Cretaceous skeleton found in the Kem Kem and a tail with elongated vertebrae, described in 2020, suggest that Spinosaurus was the first carnivorous dinosaur adapted to aquatic life, with short hind limbs and a fin-like tail.
The semi-aquatic interpretation (Ibrahim et al., 2014 and 2020) is highly debated: other authors (Henderson, Hone, Myhrvold 2024) argue it was a shoreline predator rather than an active swimmer. The original fossils (Stromer, 1912) were destroyed in 1944.
What it led to
- debate on the ecology of spinosaurids and their relation to water
- new interest in North African palaeontology
- reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous Moroccan ecosystem