Episode 79 is also about Abelisaurus, an apex predator from Argentina that may have hunted titanosaurs.

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In this episode, we discuss:

• The dinosaur of the day: Abelisaurus
• Name means “Abel’s lizard”
• Abelisaurid theropod that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Argentina
• Named after Roberto Abel, who found the type specimen, and was also the director of the Museum of Cipolletti in Argentina, where the specimen is kept
• Abel found the holotype in 1983; one fossil (partial skull with no lower jaws), but skull is estimated to be 33 inches (85 cm) long
• Named by Jose Bonaparte and Fernando Emilio Novas in 1985
• Type species is Abelisaurus comahuensis
• Species name is in honor of the Comahue region of Argentina, where the bones were found
• Paper Abelisaurus comahuensis, Carnosauria from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia by Jose Bonaparte and Fernando Novas, published in 1985
• Carnivore
• Grew up to 23-30 ft (7-9 m) long, based on one partial skull
• Gregory Paul estimated Abelisaurus to weigh 3 tons and be 33 ft (10 m) long (in 2010)
• Probably an apex predator. Gregory Paul said in 2010 Abelisaurus may have hunted titanosaurs
• Probably had short front limbs and long legs
• Abelisaurus helped scientists better understand theropods from the southern hemisphere
• Broad skull in the back, so Bonaparte and Novas compared it to Tyrannosauridae (had wide skulls), some differences though (not part of Tyrannosaur family)
• Think Abelisaurus looked like a smaller T-rex
• Abelisaurids have short heads
• Skull may have had a crest, based on rough ridges on the snout
• Had four small teeth in the premaxilla, and maxilla had 7-13 larger teeth
• High eye sockets, and large fenestrae in the skull above the jaw
• Holes in the skull make it lighter, which may have helped it balance its large skull (larger holes than in Tyrannosauridae)
• Created a new family, Abelisauridae
• Originally thought it was Carnosauria, but then other abelisaurids were found (Aucasaurus, Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus) that shows they were Neoceratosauria instead of carnosaurs)
• In 2009 Novas said Aucasaurus garridoi may be a junior synonym of Abelisaurus, but that hasn’t been accepted
• Abelisauridae means “Abel’s lizards” and is a family of theropods
• They lived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous in Gondwana, and have been found in Africa, South America, India, and Madagascar (may have also lived in the Late Jurassic in Portugal)
• Carnivorous, with stocky hindlimbs, short but tall skulls, and crests on the skull
• Most were between 17-30 ft (5 to 9 m) long
• Only a few advanced abelisaurids have been found with complete skeletons, so it’s not clear exactly how they all looked (many are known from skull bones)
• Skull is similar to carcharodontosaurids, so the groups may have been related
• Fun Fact: From the Coursera course on theropod dinosaurs: “as many as 42 major avian groups had already split before the end of the Cretaceous.”