In Depth
Although based upon the description of fragmentary fossil remains, the actual discovery of Camarillasaurus is a significant revelation in itself since it is one of the few ceratosaurs known from the early Cretaceous period. This is directly in between the heyday of the ceratosaurs in the late Jurassic, and their second revival in the late Cretaceous. Although the discovery of late Cretaceous ceratosaurs proves that they did not disappear completely after the end of the Jurassic, the discovery of Camarillasaurus at least confirms that the ceratosaurs were still active in Europe. During its description, Camarillasaurus was treated as being phylogenetically similar to Limusaurus, one of the earliest known ceratosaurs that lived in China during the late Jurassic.
Later in 2019 however a new assessment regarded Camarillasaurus to possibly be a spinosaur.
Further Reading
– Filling the ceratosaur gap: A new ceratosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous of Spain - Barbara Sanchez-Hern�ndez & Michael J. Benton - 2012.- A reappraisal of the early cretaceous theropod dinosaur Camarillasaurus from spain XVII Conference of the EAVP – Brussels, Belgium. – O. W. M. Rauhut, J. Ignacio Canudo & D. Castanera – 2019.
