In Depth Based upon fossil remains first discovered in 1980, Xenotarsosaurus was named because of the complete fusion between the astragalus and calcaneum bones of the ankle, something that is quite unusual for a theropod dinosaur. At the time of the original description, the rear leg of Xenotarsosaurus was shown to share some similarities with … Read more
In Depth When first discovered only the top part of the skull of Majungasaurus was known. This fragment revealed a dome like structure which was taken to be indicative of a pachycephalosaur. Further fossil material would reveal the truth about Majungasaurus being a carnivorous theropod, although this was not the first time that a carnivorous … Read more
In Depth Although only fragmentary remains are known Ilokelesia has been identified as a basal abelisaurid. Like many South American dinosaurs, Ilokelesia had been named using the Mapuche language from a combination of the works ‘ilo’ (flesh) and ‘kelesio’ (lizard). Further Reading – A basal Abelisauria Novas, 1992 (Theropoda–Ceratosauria) from the Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. … Read more
In Depth Tralkasaurus was named from very partial fossil remains, so it is hard to be certain and the full life features of this dinosuar. At the time of discovery, what can be said is that Tralkasaurus seems to have been an abelisaurid theropod, and one that seems to have been smaller than most other … Read more
In Depth Thanos is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Cretaceous. If the name is familiar, that is because this dinosaur is named after the character that appears in the Marvel comics universe. Further Reading - New record of abelisauroid theropods from the Bauru Group (Upper Cretaceous), S�o Paulo … Read more
In Depth Although officially named in 2003, the first confirmed remains of Rajasaurus were found in between 1982 and 1984 by Suresh Srivastava. However there is an outside chance that the first remains may have actually been discovered way back in 1923 with the naming of Lametasaurus. Lametasaurus though is now considered to ba a … Read more
In Depth Abelisaur theropods ranged across much of the southern continents during the late Cretaceous and India certainly seems to have had its share of them. However when Indosaurus was fist named by Matley and von Huene in 1933, the abelisaurs were still an unknown group of theropods, which is why they initially described Indosaurus … Read more
In Depth Niebla is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. Though only known from partial remains, Niebla seems to have actually been quite a small abelisaurid dinosaur, perhaps only about half of the size of some of the larger abelisaurid dinosaurs that were also roaming around South … Read more
In Depth Named in 2001, Quilmesaurus is so far known only from two right leg bones, and one of those is incomplete. This makes it very hard to establish details about Quilmesaurus, but assuming that the genus has similar body proportions to other abelisaurid dinosaurs then it is possible to scale the existing fossils of … Read more
In Depth Named in 2016 from a single specimen, Viavenator is another of the growing number of South American abelisaurid dinosaurs that are known to us. At a glance Viavenator does not seem to be anything special apart from being another abelisaur, however the authors of the paper describing this dinosaur have identified a combination … Read more