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

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Sampson, Scott D., Witmer, Lawrence M., Forster, Catherine A., Krause, David W., O'Connor, Patrick M., Dodson, Peter, Ravoavy, Florent
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1998
• Subjects: Indian; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5366.1048; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.280.5366.1048

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 landmasses: 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.