Abelisaur

Abelisaurs
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic - Late Cretaceous, 170–66 Ma
Reconstructed skeleton of Aucasaurus garridoi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Clade: †Neoceratosauria
Superfamily: †Abelisauroidea
Bonaparte & Novas, 1985
Clade: †Abelisauria
Novas, 1992
Families

Abelisauridae
Noasauridae

Abelisaurs (Abelisauria or Abelisauroidea) were a phylogenetic group within Neotheropoda. Some well-known dinosaurs of this group include the abelisaurids Abelisaurus, Carnotaurus, and Majungasaurus.

Abelisaurs flourished in the Southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous period, but their origins can be traced back to at least the Middle Jurassic, when they had a more global distribution (the earliest known abelisaur remains come from Australian and South American deposits dated to about 170 million years ago).[1] By the Cretaceous period, abelisaurs had apparently become extinct in Asia and North America, possibly due to competition from tyrannosaurs. However, advanced abelisaurs of the family Abelisauridae persisted in the southern continents until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.[2]

Classification

See also

References

  1. ↑ David B. Weishampel; Peter Dodson; Halszka Osmólska (2004-11-06). The Dinosauria: Second Edition. University of California Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
  2. ↑ Martín D. Ezcurra, M.D. and Agnolín, F.L. (2012). "An abelisauroid dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Laurasia and its implications on theropod palaeobiogeography and evolution." Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, (advance online publication).
  3. ↑ Tortosa, Thierry; Eric Buffetaut; Nicolas Vialle; Yves Dutour; Eric Turini; Gilles Cheylan (2013). "A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern France: Palaeobiogeographical implications". Annales de Paléontologie (In press). doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2013.10.003. Retrieved 13 December 2013.


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