Piatnitzkysaurus
Name:
Piatnitzkysaurus
(Piatnitzky’s lizard - in honour of the palaeontologist Alejandro
Mateievich Piatnitzky).
Phonetic: Pee-at-nits-kee-sore-us.
Named By: Jose Bonaparte - 1979.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Megalosauroidea.
Species: P. floresi (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: About 4.3 meters long.
Known locations: Argentina - Canadon Asfalto
Formation.
Time period: Callovian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Two skulls and partial post
cranial remains.
Currently
considered to be a megalosauroid theropod, Piatnitzkysaurus
was a
smaller medium sized theropod of the Jurassic. As a predator
Piatnitzkysaurus probably hunted other small
dinosaurs and possibly
even those slightly larger than itself. It is also almost a certainty
that Piatnitzkysaurus would scavenge the carcasses
of dead dinosaurs
when able, since scavenging is a frequent and often observed feeding
strategy in most predatory animals that are capable of killing their
own prey.
Hailing
from the Canadon Asfalto Formation, Piatnitzkysaurus
likely lived
alongside other dinosaurs such as Eoabelisaurus,
Patagosaurus,
Volkheimeria
and Tehuelchesaurus.
However it is actually a dinosaur
from France called Piveteausaurus
that is considered to be one of the
dinosaurs most similar to Piatnitzkysaurus in form.
Further reading
- Dinosaurs: A Jurassic assemblage from Patagonia, Jose
Bonaparte - 1979.
- A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii
(Dinosauria:
Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of
Middle Jurassic theropods, R. B. J. Benson - 2010.
- Braincase structure of the Middle Jurassic theropod dinosaur
Piatnitzkysaurus, Rauhut - 2004.
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