Middle Eocene vertebrate fauna from the Aridal Formation, Sabkha of Gueran, southwestern Morocco Author Zouhri, Samir Author Gingerich, Philip D. Author Khalloufi, Bouziane Author Bourdon, Estelle Author Adnet, Sylvain Author Jouve, Stéphane Author Elboudali, Najia Author Amane, Ayoub Author Rage, Jean-Claude Author Tabuce, Rodolphe text Geodiversitas 2021 2021-03-11 43 5 121 150 journal article 7746 10.5252/geodiversitas2021v43a5 e42658a2-0e15-4e90-9bc5-0d00cbcbd781 1638-9395 4605963 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:697FC553-E37B-4EF9-97A4-950E4DEE246C Subclass ELASMOBRANCHII Bonaparte, 1838 REMARKS Fossils were only collected by surface picking around the archaeocete whale carcasses (protocetids and basilosaurids, see Gingerich & Zouhri 2015 ), and thus the majority of small to medium-sized sharks and rays remain currently unknown.Thousands of specimens were collected from several localities around Gueran Depression (Locality I, Garouaz, Iddir and Laazri, see Gingerich & Zouhri 2015 : fig.2).The majority of the fossil material consists of isolated teeth, rare barbs of myliobatid rays, and indeterminate vertebrae representing at least 12 species of sharks and rays. FIG. 1. — Geological map showing the desert in southwestern Morocco and the location of the Sabkha of Gueran relative to Boujdour city. Red symbols mark sites that yielded vertebrates remains described herein.Inset shows the geographical distribution of Eocene marine faunal localities on the African continent.The main African localities of interest are numbered from 1 to 8. Numbers: 1 , Gueran locality in southwestern Morocco, Bartonian ( Gingerich & Zouhri 2015 ; Zouhri et al. 2018 ; 2 , Garitas and nearby sites south of Ad-Dakhla in southwestern Morocco Bartonian-Priabonian ( Zouhri et al. 2014 , 2018; Gingerich & Zouhri 2017 ); 3 , Ndomor Diop site near Taïba Ndiaye in Senegal, Lutetian ( Hautier et al. 2014 ); 4 , Tiavandou in Senegal, Priabonian ( Elouard 1981 ); 5 , Kpogame in Togo, Lutetian ( Gingerich & Cappetta 2014 ); 6 , Ameke in southern Nigeria, Bartonian ( Andrews 1920 ; Halstead & Middleton 1974 , 1976 ); 7 , Fayum Depression in Egypt, which yielded a rich vertebrate faunas of Eocene-Oligocene age; 8 , Dur At-Talah in Sirt Basin in Libya, Eocene-Oligocene ( Abouessa et al. 2012 ). The geology is from Hollard et al. (1985) and map modified from Gingerich & Zouhri (2015) . The chondrichthyan fauna currently consists of 12 species of elasmobranchs belonging to orders: Lamniformes , Carcharhiniformes and Rhinopristiformes . Most unnamed species are in course of study, awaiting careful comparisons with those from subcontemporaneous deposits (e.g. MI, GE) in Waddi el-Rayyan and Wadi al Hitan (Whale Valley) in Egypt .