The Moradi Formation is a geological formation in Niger. It preserves the fossils of numerous tetrapods, including reptiles and synapsids.
Description
It is of Guadalupian to Lopingian age. Some recent publications proposed to refine the age to Changhsingian, but the papers that directly studied its age actually support only a much less precise age assignment. Early studies, published in the 1960 and 1970s placed it in the Upper Permian because at the time, the Permian was divided into Lower and Upper Permian only, and the Upper Permian then included most or all of what is now considered Middle Permian. All fossils are found only in a 10 m section of the uppermost part of the formation. It is informally divided into three subunits. The lower portion of the formation consists of red mudstone, with muddy calcareous sandstone and quartz-granlule conglomerate present as lenses. The middle portion consists of muddy siltstone in thick beds interbedded with red argillaceous sandstone. The lower two thirds of the upper portion of the formation consist of red siltstone intercalated with channel lag intraformational conglomerates, while the upper third consists of barchanoid shaped lenses of conglomeratic sandstone with ventifacts. These facies are indicatived of deposition under arid conditions, with less than of annual rainfall in the Central Pangean desert, with annual temperatures of , but with ephemeral water presence including lakes.
Fossil content Dicynodonts, widespread in other contemporary deposits, appear to be absent, with previous reports being in error. The flora of the formation includes indeterminate voltzian conifers.
Synapsida +GenusSpeciesNotesImagesRubidgeinae indet.IndeterminateAn indeterminate rubidgine gorgonopsian
Reptiliomorpha +Genus SpeciesNotesImagesBunostegosB. akokanensisA pareiasaurian reptileMoradisaurusM. grandisA large captorhinidTaquet, P. (1969). Première découverte en Afrique d'un Reptile Captorhinomorphe (Cotylosaurien). Comptes Rendus l'Académie des Sciences, Série D 268:779-781
Temnospondyli +GenusSpeciesNotesNigerpetonN. ricqlesiA cochleosaurid temnospondylSaharastegaS. moradiensisA basal temnospondyl
References