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A Large Abelisauroid Theropod Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Libya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Joshua B. Smith ,
Matthew C. Lamanna ,
Achmed S. Askar ,
Khalid A. Bergig ,
Sefau O. Tshakreen ,
Miloud M. Abugares  and
D. Tab Rasmussen
Joshua B. Smith
Affiliation:
1American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20007-3835,
Matthew C. Lamanna
Affiliation:
2Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-4080
Achmed S. Askar
Affiliation:
3Heritage Conservation Museum, Nalut, Libya
Khalid A. Bergig
Affiliation:
4Petroleum Research Centre, P. O. Box 6431, Tripoli, Libya
Sefau O. Tshakreen
Affiliation:
4Petroleum Research Centre, P. O. Box 6431, Tripoli, Libya
Miloud M. Abugares
Affiliation:
4Petroleum Research Centre, P. O. Box 6431, Tripoli, Libya
D. Tab Rasmussen
Affiliation:
5Department of Anthropology, Washington University, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
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Abstract

Despite increasingly intensive paleontological sampling, Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrates from continental Africa remain relatively poorly known, frustrating efforts to characterize paleoecosystems in the region, as well as the paleobiogeography of the southern continents during this interval. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a large-bodied theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (early Aptian, ~125-120 Ma) of Libya. The specimen consists of associated elements (two incomplete dorsal vertebrae, a proximal caudal centrum, a partial proximal caudal neural arch, the distal right femur, and the mostly complete right tibia) and is referable to the widespread ceratosaurian clade Abelisauroidea. The discovery adds to the growing record of abelisauroids from mainland Africa, and firmly establishes the presence of the clade on the continent prior to its final separation from South America. Indeed, the age of the Libyan theropod predates or is penecontemporaneous with the accepted timing of fragmentation of most major Gondwanan landmasses, supporting the hypothesis that abelisauroids could have dispersed throughout the southern continents before land connections between these areas were severed. Moreover, the considerable size of the Libyan form challenges assertions that abelisauroids were ecologically subordinate to basal tetanuran theropods in Early and middle Cretaceous paleoenvironments of Gondwana.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 84 , Issue 5 , September 2010 , pp. 927 - 934
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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