Predatory Dinosaur Remains from Madagascar: Implications for the Cretaceous Biogeography of Gondwana

Recent discoveries of fossil vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar include several specimens of a large theropod dinosaur. One specimen includes a nearly complete and exquisitely preserved skull with thickened pneumatic nasals, a median frontal horn, and a dorsal projection on the parie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1998-05, Vol.280 (5366), p.1048-1051
Main Authors: Sampson, Scott D., Witmer, Lawrence M., Forster, Catherine A., Krause, David W., O'Connor, Patrick M., Dodson, Peter, Ravoavy, Florent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antarctic regions
Cretaceous period
Dinosaurs
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Fauna
Fossils
Geography
Geology, Stratigraphic
Gondwana
Holotypes
Paleogeography
Paleontology
Plate Tectonics
Pneumatics
Skull
Stratigraphy
Taxa
Vertebrate paleontology
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Summary:Recent discoveries of fossil vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar include several specimens of a large theropod dinosaur. One specimen includes a nearly complete and exquisitely preserved skull with thickened pneumatic nasals, a median frontal horn, and a dorsal projection on the parietals. The new materials are assigned to the enigmatic theropod group Abelisauridae on the basis of a number of unique features. Fossil remains attributable to abelisaurids are restricted to three Gondwanan land-masses: South America, Madagascar, and the Indian subcontinent. This distribution is consistent with a revised paleogeographic reconstruction that posits prolonged links between these landmasses (via Antarctica), perhaps until late in the Late Cretaceous.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.280.5366.1048