A new basal sauropod dinosaur from the middle Jurassic of Niger and the early evolution of sauropoda.

Background: The early evolution of sauropod dinosaurs is poorly understood because of a highly incomplete fossil record. New discoveries of Early and Middle Jurassic sauropods have a great potential to lead to a better understanding of early sauropod evolution and to reevaluate the patterns of sauropod diversification.

Principal Findings: A new sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of Niger, Spinophorosaurus nigerensis n.

Lakeside cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 years of holocene population and environmental change.

Background: Approximately two hundred human burials were discovered on the edge of a paleolake in Niger that provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara during the Holocene ( approximately 8000 B.C.E.