Genus
Valid Extinct

Aucasaurus

Coria et al. 2002
Etymology Lézard de Auca (d’après le site d’Auca Mahuevo).

Aucasaurus is a genus of medium-sized abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Argentina that lived during the Late Cretaceous 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.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Aucasaurus
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Aucasaurus - 01 © Kabacchi · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
Aucasaurus
Aucasaurus
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Ceratosauria Suborder
Abelisauridae Family
Brachyrostra Unranked clade
Aucasaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
6,1 m
Aucasaurus garridoi
5 m
Mass
900 kg
Aucasaurus garridoi
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇦🇷 Argentina
2
Geological formations
Temporal distribution
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Aucasaurus garridoi 84 Ma
Images 3
Bibliography
Original description
R. A. Coria, L. M. Chiappe, and L. Dingus. 2002. A new close relative of <i>Carnotaurus sastrei</i> Bonaparte 1985 (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(2):460-465 DOI ↗
Bibliography (2)
J. G. Meso, C. Hendrickx, and M. A. Baiano, J. I. Canale, L. Salgado, I. Diáz Martínez. 2021. Isolated theropod teeth associated with a sauropod skeleton from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 66 DOI ↗
R. A. Coria, L. M. Chiappe, and L. Dingus. 2002. A new close relative of <i>Carnotaurus sastrei</i> Bonaparte 1985 (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(2):460-465 DOI ↗