Majungasaurus
| Majungasaurus | ||||||||||||
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Live reconstruction of Majungasaurus crenatissimus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ) | ||||||||||||
| 72 to 66 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Majungasaurus | ||||||||||||
| Lavocat , 1955 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Majungasaurus (formerly Majungatholus ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that can be found in fossils in the late Upper Cretaceous at the end of the Mesozoic Era ( Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary ). The genus was in 1955 by René Lavocat described , the only kind and type species is Majungasaurus crenatissimus and was founded in 1896 by Charles DEPERET as Megalosaurus crenatissimus first described.
description
anatomy
The Majungasaurus moved bipedally (two-legged), as was typical of theropod dinosaurs. The entire animal could reach a length of about six to seven meters from the nose to the tip of the tail . Some fossil finds show that larger specimens could even reach a length of eight meters and a weight of up to 1.5 tons.
The legs were relatively small in relation to body size. From this, scientists concluded that the Majungasaurus was unable to run very quickly.
skull
Like the other Abelisaurids , Majungasaurus had a relatively short, powerful head. So the dinosaur could bite hard. What was special about this skull was a horn that sat on his forehead. The whole top of the skull showed noticeable bumps. These were so pronounced that it was originally assumed that Majungasaurus was a pachycephalosaurid .
The use of these bumps is unknown to science. Fighting between male conspecifics may have been carried out with their help in order to maintain the favor of the females.
Possible cannibalism
In the fossil remains of Majungasaurus , notches from teeth , i.e. bite marks, were discovered on the bones . The spacing and the shape of the notches fit this species exactly. So it stands to reason that the animals were cannibals and that one Majungasaurus fed on another.
But it is also possible that two conspecifics fought with each other (e.g. over a female or territory) and the bite marks came from such an argument.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Scott D. Sampson, Lawrence M. Witmer : Craniofacial Anatomy of Majungasaurus Crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) From the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 27, Supplement to No. 2, ZDB -ID 1313684-7 = Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Memoir. 8: Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar , 2007, pp. 32-104, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2007) 27 [32: CAOMCT] 2.0.CO; 2 .