Journal: Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG)
Author: Niaz Muhammad, Amtyaz Safi

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: 10.26480/pjg.01.2026.29.39

We are currently revising the previous reports about the Pakistani titanosaurian diplodocid dinosaur (KUST-DM-NM-1/2025), found in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous layers of the Shinawari Formation. Safisaur niazensis is the first dinosaur discovered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the first diplodocoid sauropod found in Pakistan, as initially reported in August 2025. The initial fossil included a bifid neural spine and other bones that resembled Dicraeosaurid (Flagellicaudata; Diplodocoidea) and also showed some unique features within Diplodocoid (Flagellicaudata; Dicraeosauridae). As a result, it was classified as a new genus and species, (Safisaur niazensis Malkani, 2025). The name Safisaur honors Amtyaz Safi from the Department of Zoology at Diwan Diyaram Jethmal (D.J.) Sindh Government Science College in Karachi, Pakistan, is involved in this discovery, and the term ‘saur’ means lizard or reptile. The species name, Safisaur niazensis, honors Niaz Muhammad, an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Kohat University of Science and Technology, who contributed to the discovery and fossil collection. In September to November 2025, additional fragmentary bones from the axial and appendicular regions were recovered from the same site. These included axial elements such as partial cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae, neural arches, a distal thoracic rib, and a chevron, along with limb bones like a proximal femur and a metatarsal 1. All these bones, including the holotype and other materials, belong to a single individual found at one specific location. The size consistency and lack of duplication confirm that these materials come from one individual. Consequently, we assigned a single holotype number: KUST-DM-NM-1/2025.

Journal: Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG)
Author: Haidar Salim Anan*

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: 10.26480/pjg.01.2026.22.28

The present study deals with the modern taxonomical consideration of the Paleocene -Eocene twenty smaller benthic foraminiferal species belonging to twenty genera, were identified and illustrated from central Black Sea Region of Turkey, which represent good example of the Northern Tethyan benthic foraminiferal assemblage. Eighteen of these species are believed here as new: Trochamminoides turkiana, Spiroplectinella gurayi, Dorothia turkiana, Enantiodentalina turkiana, Neoflabellina turkiana, Lagena turkiana, Aragonia turkiana, Stilostomella turkiana, Globocassidulina turkiana, Ellipsoglandulina turkiana, Planulina turkiana, Cibicidoides turkiana ,Cibicides turkiana, Nuttallides turkiana, Nonion turkiana, Oridorsalis turkiana, Osangularia turkiana and Anomalinoides turkiana. A comparative correlation between the recorded species from Turkey in Northern Tethys with other species in the other parts of the Southern Tethys indicates open marine connections, and wide paleogeographic distribution of the ancestral Tethys, which is connected with the ancestral Atlantic and Indian Oceans via Mediterranean Sea in the Early Paleogene. In general, the benthic foraminifera is predominantly considered to be related to open marine environment, photic zone, middle￾upper neritic environment (100-200 m water depth), which shows an affinity with Midway-Type Fauna (MTF). the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for factor weighting and ROC–AUC machine learning validation to enhance predictive accuracy and reduce subjectivity in groundwater potential mapping.