F13 - Top Rare Nigersaurus taqueti Sauropod Dinosaur Tooth Cretaceous Elrhaz Fm

Scientific name: Nigersaurus taqueti, (Sereno et al., 1999) - Rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur

Location: Gadoufaoua, Téneré Desert, Niger.

Geological Formation: Elrhaz Fm

Age: Lower Cretaceous, Aptian/Albian stage ( 113 million years)

Size (long): 2.9cm = 1.14 Inch

REF.: F13

DESCRIPTION:
Here we introduce this exceedingly rare dinosaur tooth from Elrhaz Fm. It is an authentic tooth of Nigersaurus, herbivorous sauropod rebbachisaurid dinosaur that lived during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous of modern-day Niger. Small for a sauropod, Nigersaurus was about 9 m (30 ft) long, and had a short neck. It weighed around 4 t (4.4 short tons), comparable to a modern elephant.

The Elrhaz Formation is mostly made up of fluvial sandstones. A diverse assemblage of fossil animals has been recovered, bony fish, turtles, several genera of crocodylomorphs (Anatosuchus, Araripesuchus, Sarcosuchus, and Stolokrosuchus), undescribed ornithocheirid pterosaurs, the theropod dinosaurs Eocarcharia, Kryptops, Suchomimus, and an undescribed noasaurid (possibly Bahariasaurus), the sauropods Nigersaurus and an undescribed titanosaurian (Malawisaurus), and the iguanodontians Lurdusaurus and Ouranosaurus.