Aucasaurus
Sign in to saveAucasaurus (meaning 'Auca Mahuevo lizard') is a genus of medium-sized abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Argentina that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian to Campanian stage) of the Anacleto Formation. It was smaller than the related Carnotaurus, although more derived in some ways, such as its extremely reduced arms and almost total lack of fingers. The type skeleton is complete to the thirteenth caudal vertebra, and so is relatively well understood, and was the most complete abelisaurid known when described in 2002. However, the skull is damaged, causing some paleontologists to specu
Article
8 sectionsContents
- Discovery
- Description
- Postcranial skeleton
- Braincase
- Pathology
- Classification
- See also
- References
Aucasaurus (meaning 'Auca Mahuevo lizard') is a genus of medium-sized abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Argentina that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian to Campanian stage) of the Anacleto Formation. It was smaller than the related Carnotaurus, although more derived in some ways, such as its extremely reduced arms and almost total lack of fingers. The type skeleton is complete to the thirteenth caudal vertebra, and so is relatively well understood, and was the most complete abelisaurid known when described in 2002. However, the skull is damaged, causing some paleontologists to speculate that it was involved in a fight prior to death.
== Discovery == The holotype of Aucasaurus is known from finds in the Río Colorado Subgroup, a Late Cretaceous group comprising the Anacleto Formation in the Neuquén Basin of Argentina that has yielded many dinosaur fossils. Numerous sauropod eggs are also known from this deposit. The type specimen belongs to a mature individual of at least eleven years old.