Tarascosaurus
Femurs of Tarascosaurus
- Bouches -du -Rhône, France
- Tarascosaurus salluvicus
Tarascosaurus is a little known genus theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of France. So far, a very fragmentary Fund is only known composed of the upper portion of the left thigh bone ( femur) and two fragmentary, but encountered in the anatomical composite vertebrae. Tarascosaurus is regarded as a representative of the Abelisauroidea, and is placed within this group by some researchers to the Abelisauridae. The only way is Tarascosaurus salluvicus.
Features
The femur is similar to the possibly related, originating from the Netherlands Betasuchus. Thus, the femoral head was inclined slightly forward. The small trochanter ( Lesser trochanter ) was large and showed a marked depression ( foramen ). The neural arches of the vertebrae were similar to those of Abelisauriden Majungasaurus and were heavily pneumatized ( permeated with air-filled chambers ) and anteroposterior short. The vertebral bodies, however, were only slightly pneumatized. Hyposphen - Hypantrum connections were available.
Research History and naming
Tarascosaurus was first described in 1991 by the French paleontologist Jean Le Loeuff and Eric Buffetaut in the context of a thesis on the then known Theropodenfunde the European Upper Cretaceous. The Tarascosaurus fossils found has long been in the collection of the Faculté des Sciences de Lyon. The discoverer of this finding is unknown; only the origin of the fossil from the reference Lambeau de Bandol, which belongs to Bandol - syncline is preserved. The previously unnamed rock unit was magnetostratigraphisch dated to the Lower Campanian.
The name Tarascosaurus ( Tarasco - " Tarasque ", gr sauros - " lizard" ) has the Tarasque, a known in Provence mythical creature in dragon form. The second part of the species name, salluvicus (from Latin salluvii - " Salluvier " ) has the tribe of the Salluvier, who settled in ancient times in what is now Provence.
Systematics and validity
Le Loeuff Buffetaut and came to the conclusion that Tasascosaurus, had been covered as well as various other studied by these researchers Theropodenfunde the Upper Cretaceous of Europe, the Abelisauridae. While various studies adhere to a classification of Tarascosaurus within the Abelisauridae, determine other studies that such a precise assignment because of the very fragmentary nature of the findings was not possible. Ronan Allain and Xabier Suberbiola (2003) noted, for example, that the Tarascosaurus fossils show no features that are known only from representatives of Abelisauridae ( synapomorphies ). So Tarasccosaurus is often regarded as not representative of the zuordbarer Abelisauroidea.
Various researchers consider Tarascosaurus as a noun dubium and thus the validity of this taxon in question, because no features were identified that allow a clear differentiation from other genres.