Zarafasaura

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title: "Zarafasaura" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["late-cretaceous-plesiosaurs", "fossil-taxa-described-in-2011", "plesiosaurs-of-africa", "elasmosauridae", "sauropterygian-genera"] description: "Extinct genus of reptiles" topic_path: "general/late-cretaceous-plesiosaurs" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarafasaura" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of reptiles ::

| fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, | image = Zarafasaura at Wyoming Dinosaur Center.jpg | image_caption = Mounted skeleton (above), Wyoming Dinosaur Center | genus = Zarafasaura | parent_authority = Vincent et al., 2011 | authority = Vincent et al., 2011 | species = oceanis

Zarafasaura is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid known from the Ouled Abdoun Basin of Morocco. As a relatively small elasmosaur, it would have measured around 3 - long and weighed about 100 kg.

Discovery

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Zarafasaura_oceanis.png" caption="[[Life restoration"] ::

Zarafasaura was first named by Peggy Vincent, Nathalie Bardet, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, Baâdi Bouya, Mbarek Amaghzaz and Saïd Meslouh in 2011 and the type species is Zarafasaura oceanis. The generic name is derived from zarafa (زرافة), Arabic for "giraffe" (it refers to the name given by the local population to the plesiosaurs found in the phosphates) and saurus, Greek for "lizard". The specific name is derived from oceanis, Latin for "daughter of the sea".

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Zarafasaura_skull_diagram.jpg" caption="Skull diagram"] ::

The holotype of Zarafasaura, OCP-DEK/GE 315, consists of an articulated incomplete dorsoventrally crushed skull and mandible and from the paratype OCP-DEK/GE 456, a complete mandible. It was collected in the Sidi Daoui area, from the Upper CIII level of the upper Cretaceous (latest Maastrichtian stage) Phosphates of Morocco.

In 2017, a specimen of Zarafasaura oceanis was about to be auctioned off at Hôtel Drouot (Paris). The auction house valued it at about €450,000 but the sale was halted and the specimen ultimately returned to Morocco.

References

References

1. (2011). "''Zarafasaura oceanis'', a new elasmosaurid (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco and the palaeobiogeography of latest Cretaceous plesiosaurs". Gondwana Research.
2. (2022). "Contrasting preservation in pycnodont fishes reveals first record of regurgitalites from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Moroccan phosphate deposits". Cretaceous Research.
3. Paul, Gregory S.. (2022). "The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles". Princeton University Press.
4. (2013). "A new specimen of the elasmosaurid plesiosaur ''Zarafasaura oceanis'' from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Morocco". Paludicola.
5. AFP. (2017-04-20). "Le Maroc récupère son "monstre du Loch Ness"".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::