Saïda Hossini (born 1950) is a Moroccan palaeontologist, specialising in frogs of the Pleistocene.

Career edit

Hossini teaches at the University of Moulay Ismail, Faculté des Sciences in Meknes. She studied for her doctoral research in Paris, researching anuran species of the late oligocene and the miocene in France.[1] Her work in Morocco includes the examination of cave deposits and examined amphibian remains from the Thomas Quarry Site, near Casablanca.[2] Hossini identified for the first time the presence of the genus Baleaphryne for the first time in Africa at the Jebel Irhoud ("Ocre" quarry) site in Morocco.[3] She also investigated the faunal remains at the cave of That El Ghar (Tetuan), exploring palaeoenvironment of North Africa between the pleistocene and the holocene.[4]

New species edit

 
Hula painted frog or Latonia nigriventer is the only extant species in the Latonia genus and is the closest living relative to Latonia ragei

In 1993, Hossini was the person to describe a new species of frog, Latonia ragei.[5] Evidence for the species came from the fossil record in three localities: Coderet, Laugnac and 'St Gerand-Le-Puy'.[6] The discovery and identification of a Latonia mandible, led to the classification of this species as new to science.[7] In other examples of ragei, Hossini worked on maxilla surface sculpturing to produce identification.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ Hossini, Saïda (1992-01-01). Les anoures (amphibiens) de l'oligocène terminal et du miocène en France (thesis thesis). Paris 7.
  2. ^ Raynal, Jean-Paul; Sbihi-Alaoui, Fatima-Zohra; Mohib, Abderrahim; El Graoui, Mosshine; Lefèvre, David; Texier, Jean-Pierre; Geraads, Denis; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Smith, Tanya; Tafforeau, Paul; Zouak, Mehdi (2010). "Hominid Cave at Thomas Quarry I (Casablanca, Morocco): Recent findings and their context" (PDF). Quaternary International. 223–224: 369–382. Bibcode:2010QuInt.223..369R. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.03.011.
  3. ^ Hossini, Saïda (2001). "Les Anoures (Ambhibiens) du Pléstocéne inférieur (" Villafranchien ") du Jebel Irhoud (carriére " Ocre "), Maroc". Annales de Paléontologie. 87 (2): 79–97. doi:10.1016/S0753-3969(01)80004-5.
  4. ^ Ramos, José; Muñoz, José Ramos; Casasola, Darío Bernal (2008). الحضارات الإنسانية بمغارة "كهف تحت الغار"، تطوان : المنتوجات الأثرية بمضيق جبل طارق: los productos arqueológicos en el contexto del Estrecho de Gibraltar (in Spanish). Servicio Publicaciones UCA. ISBN 978-84-9828-215-3.
  5. ^ "Latonia ragei - Wikispecies". species.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  6. ^ Hossini, Saïda (1993). "A new species of Latonia (Anura, Discoglossidae) from the lower Miocene of France". Amphibia-Reptilia. 14 (3): 237–245. doi:10.1163/156853893X00435. ISSN 0173-5373.
  7. ^ "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. ^ Georgalis, Georgios L.; Villa, Andrea; Ivanov, Martin; Vasilyan, Davit; Delfino, Massimo (2019). "Fossil amphibians and reptiles from the Neogene locality of Maramena (Greece), the most diverse European herpetofauna at the Miocene/Pliocene transition boundary". Palaeontologia Electronica. 22 (3): 1–99. ISSN 1094-8074.