Minqaria

[1] The Minqaria holotype specimen, MHNM.KHG.1395, was discovered in sediments of the Oulad Abdoun Basin (upper Couche III, Sidi Chennane locality) of Morocco.

[1] Minqaria is estimated to have a length of about 3.5 metres (11 ft) long and a weight of 250 kilograms (550 lb), similar in size to its contemporary relative Ajnabia.

Their cladogram is shown below:[1] Aralosaurus Jaxartosaurus Tsintaosaurus Parasaurolophini Lambeosaurini Arenysaurus Adynomosaurus Basturs Poble arenysaurin Canardia Pararhabdodon Koutalisaurus Blasisaurus Serrat del Rostiar arenysaurin Ajnabia Minqaria Mrah Lahrach femur Sidi Daoui humerus The holotype specimen was recovered from the phosphates of the Ouled Abdoun Basin of north-central Morocco.

[5] Hadrosaurs, the taxonomic group Minqaria is assigned to, had not been documented from Africa until the discovery of the contemporary Ajnabia; their closest lambeosaurine relatives are all known from Europe.

The much more prominent oceanic barrier between Europe and Africa, characterized by deep waters, makes Ajnabia far stronger evidence of this phenomenon, as varying conditions could narrow the gap but not conceivably bridge it entirely.

This endemism is explained by the fragmentation of the former Gondwanan supercontinent into increasingly distant landmasses, leading to the ancestrally linked faunas of different southern continents becoming distinct.

Lambeosaurinae fossil localities in Morocco; Minqaria was found in the Sidi Chennane locality.
Speculative life restoration
Holotype maxilla
Holotype dentary
Late Maastrichtian dinosaurs of Morocco; Minqaria at the far right
Environment reconstruction of the contemporary Ajnabia and Chenanisaurus where Minqaria coexists
Map of the continents in the Late Cretaceous; the southern "Gondwanan" continents were diverging and Northern Africa was an island