Kemkemia

from Kem Kem

• Kem Kem · Arabic/Berber (place name) · the Kem Kem Beds (geological formation in Morocco)

Kemkemia is named after the Kem Kem Beds (also known as the Kem Kem Group), the geological formation in southeastern Morocco where the fossils were discovered. The Kem Kem Beds are a well-known Cretaceous fossil-bearing sequence straddling the Morocco–Algeria border. The suffix "-ia" is the standard Latinised ending used to form a genus name from a place name.

Named by

Chabli

Year named

1988

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Cenomanian

Found in

Kem Kem Beds, Morocco/Algeria border region, North Africa

Kemkemia auditorei is based on very fragmentary vertebral material (isolated vertebrae) from the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco. It was originally described as a theropod dinosaur, but the material is so incomplete that its classification is highly uncertain, and it is widely regarded as a nomen dubium. Some researchers have questioned whether it can even be reliably identified as a dinosaur. Confidence is medium due to the limited and debated nature of the material.