genus of abelisaurid theropods From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abelisaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur. They lived in South America during the Upper Cretaceous period. There is one species in the genus Abelisaurus comahuensis.
| Abelisaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstruction of the Abelisaurus skull with original bones of the holotype. Scale = 10 cm | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Abelisauridae |
| Clade: | †Brachyrostra |
| Tribe: | †Carnotaurini |
| Genus: | †Abelisaurus Bonaparte & Novas, 1985 |
| Type species | |
| †Abelisaurus comahuensis Bonaparte & Novas, 1985 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
?Aucasaurus Coria, Chippe and Dingus, 2002 | |
Abelisaurus was the first abelisaurid that people found. The family, the Abelisauridae, is named after Abelisaurus'. Abelisaurus is the type genus. Despite this, scientists do not know much about how the dinosaur lived.
The only fossils found so far are several skull bones. People found them in Argentina. Scientists put them back together in a lab to create a skull. The skull is similar to that of other members of its family. Like most abelisaurs, it is blunt and short in length, but tall from top to bottom. Abelisaurus probably ate large sauropod dinosaurs, such as Amargasaurus. Scientists think Abelisaurus hunted in packs. It may also have hunted smaller plant-eating dinosaurs, such as the small ornithopod Gasparinisaura.[1][2]
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