Diversity and biogeography of Late Cretaceous vertebrate faunas of northern Sudan

关于晚中生代陆生脊椎动物动物群的大部分知识来自新大陆、欧洲和亚洲的化石沉积，而来自非洲的信息很少，仅基于少数孤立的地点。特别是，到目前为止，对非洲大陆东北部的研究仍然严重不足。我们打算通过在苏丹中部的上白垩世沉积物中进行古生物野外工作来探索撒哈拉东部中生代晚期陆地脊椎动物的鲜为人知的动物群，这有望为K/T灭绝事件前不久冈瓦那东北部的脊椎动物多样性格局提供宝贵的见解。野外工作包括重新安置和挖掘以前已知的地点，以及勘探新的发现，以及对这些地点的地层位置和古环境背景进行数字化和详细的记录。

Most knowledge of Late Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas comes from fossil deposits in the New World, Europe, and Asia, whereas from Africa there is little information based on only a few isolated localities. In particular the northeastern part of the continent has so far remained dramatically understudied. We propose to explore the poorly known fauna of Late Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates of east Saharan Africa by performing palaeontological fieldwork in Upper Cretaceous sediments of central northern Sudan, which promise to provide invaluable insights into the patterns of vertebrate diversity in northeastern Gondwana shortly before the K/T extinction event. Fieldwork comprises the relocation and excavation of previously known localities but also the prospecting for new finds, as well as the digital and detailed record of stratigraphic position and palaeoenvironmental context of localities.