Aratasaurus

Aratasaurus is an extinct genus of basal coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Romualdo Formation of Brazil. The genus contains a single species, A. museunacionali, known from a partial right leg. Aratasaurus represents the only tetrapod fossil known from the lower levels of the Romualdo Formation.

==Discovery and naming== thumb|left|Holotype leg bones before preparation The Aratasaurus holotype, MPSC R 2089, was discovered in 2008 in Mina Pedra Branca, a plaster mine representing outcrops of the lower Romualdo Formation near Santana do Cariri in Ceará state of northeastern Brazil. The specimen consists of a partial articulated right leg, including the distal end of the femur, the proximal end of the tibia, part of metatarsals I–IV, several phalanges, and three pedal unguals. The specimen represents only part of the preserved individual, but the remainder was broken and lost during mining activity.