Possible Atlasaurus material from Wawmda, Atlas Mountains (Morocco)

[ADfossils]

Hello everyone, I’m new here, nice to meet you! I recently acquired a few boxes of what looks like dinosaur material. From the Atlas of Morocco (apparently from Wawmda, Tillouguit formation). So, possibly Atlasaurus? As you can see, the quality is very poor, with a lot of bones only being the inside of the bone (see cell structure) and with a ton of matrix on it. I’ve been trying to determine what is what, before putting the effort in removing the matrix. The first 4 pics are clearly 2 and a bit (caudal) vertebrae. Pic 5 and 6 looks like a partial scapula. Pics 7, 8, 9 are huge and flat (and weigh a ton, like 15 kilos each) so look like (dorsal) vertebrae discs? There is almost no information, neither a lot of research online. If anyone knows about these and could help confirm or identify, this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time. Have a great day!

 

 

[Troodon]

Welcome.  There are both middle and lower Jurassic deposits from those mountains and getting a solid provenance can be problematic.  My experience is that local sellers identify material to what is known, sells best.   It also depends how close your source is to the local digger.  These bones may pass through many hands.

 

Assuming the locality is correct Atlasaurus is a possibility but being middle Jurassic there is no question multiple sauropods were present from those deposits, they just have not been discovered or described.   The holotype is very fragmentary, minimal help you.   A tail section was privately auctioned off these are a couple of photos.   Caudal vertebrae from different taxons may look similar

 

 

 

 

Edited:

Holotype vertebrae, notice the large pneumatic foramen in the centrum of the dorsals

Monbaron et al. (1999)

[Tidgy's Dad]

I agree with Frank. 

Sellers tend to label things as what they know will sell, so a lot of large bone pieces will be sold in Morocco and online as Atlasaurus with no detailed provenance. 

Technically, if the pieces were identifiable they shouldn't be allowed to leave the country under the new National Heritage laws implemented by the Ministry of Mines. 

These are presumably just regarded as dinosaur bone fragments of no scientific or cultural value. 

[ADfossils]

Hello again. Thank you for your replies! These have been exported years ago (I know the seller, they brought them back when they were young, so +- 20 years ago). I understand perfectly that, especially seeing the bad conservation of these and the amount of matrix, it is impossible to determine the exact species/type. Purely anatomically speaking, the first 3 pics are caudal vertebrae, right? I was mainly trying to get help on what type of "bones" or pieces I got here and see if it could be worth it to remove the matrix.

[Troodon]

Could be dorsals