Geology and stratigraphy of the Neogene section along the Oued Beth between Dar bel Hamri and El Kansera (Rharb Basin, northwestern Morocco) and its otolith-based fish fauna: a faunal inventory for the Early Pliocene remigration into the Mediterranean

The coquina on the banks of the Oued Beth in the Rharb Basin in northwestern Morocco has long been known to be exceptionally rich in fossils. The stratigraphic position ranging from the Late Miocene to the Pliocene has been controversial, however. In the course of my master's degree field work in 1975/76, I mapped the right bank of the Oued Beth from Dar bel Hamri to El Kansera. Following multiple recent studies in the general region, I here review my results and present an updated comprehensive stratigraphic and geologic frame for the first time. The coquina near Dar bel Hamri is interpreted to be of Early Pliocene age, possibly containing some reworking of Late Miocene fossils. The coquina and other locations along the Oued Beth have yielded a rich otolith assemblage, which is described in this article. It represents the first fossil otolith-based fish fauna described from Northwest Africa and contains 96 species, 16 of which are new. The new species in the order of their description are Diaphus maghrebensis n. sp., Ophidion tuseti n. sp., Centroberyx vonderhochti n. sp., Myripristis ouarredi n. sp., Deltentosteus planus n. sp., Caranx rharbensis n. sp., Trachurus insectus n. sp., Parapristipoma bethensis n. sp., Pomadasys zemmourensis n. sp., Cepola lombartei n. sp., Trachinus maroccanus n. sp., Trachinus wernlii n. sp., Uranoscopus hoedemakersi n. sp., Uranoscopus vanhinsberghi n. sp., Spondyliosoma tingitana n. sp., and Opsodentex mordax n. sp. In addition, a new species is described from the Tortonian and Zanclean of Italy: Rhynchoconger carnevalei n. sp. Some additional otoliths are described from another Northwest Moroccan location of Early Pliocene age near Asilah, 50 km south of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Early Pliocene fish fauna from Dar bel Hamri in the Rharb Basin is also of interest, because it constitutes the nearest Atlantic fauna of the time of the reconnection of the Mediterranean with the Atlantic and may have acted as a hosting area for the remigration of fishes into the Mediterranean. Indeed, the correlation is high between the Northwest Moroccan and the well-known time-equivalent Mediterranean fish fauna, but the Moroccan fauna also contains a good proportion of putative endemic taxa and taxa with tropical West African affinities that apparently did not migrate into the Mediterranean. Thus, the Early Pliocene fish fauna from the Rharb Basin represents a unique assemblage for which I propose the biogeographic term "Maghrebian bioprovince."