Abelisaurus

Filed under Cretaceous dinosaurs · Types of Dinosaurs editorial team

Order: Saurischia · Suborder: Theropoda · Infraorder: Abelisauridae · Family: Abelisauridae

Abelisaurus was a large carnivorous dinosaur that roamed the Late Cretaceous landscapes of Argentina. Its name means "Abel's lizard," honoring Roberto Abel, the Argentine museum director who discovered the fossil and oversaw the provincial institution where it was housed. The genus was formally named in 1985 by paleontologists José Bonaparte and Fernando Novas.

This theropod measured between 25 and 30 feet in length, making it a formidable predator of its time. Abelisaurus is known primarily from a single incomplete skull, which exhibits the characteristic deep, short-snouted shape typical of its close relatives. Like other members of its family, the animal likely possessed very short, nearly vestigial arms and compensated for this limitation with powerful jaws capable of subduing prey.

Abelisaurus holds particular significance in paleontology as the namesake of the Abelisauridae family, a successful group of carnivorous dinosaurs that flourished across the southern continents during the Cretaceous period. As one of the earliest members of this lineage to be scientifically described, Abelisaurus established the defining characteristics by which an entire family of distinctive Southern Hemisphere predators would come to be recognized and studied.

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Reference background: Natural History Museum, London — Dinosaurs; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Dinosaurs; American Museum of Natural History — Dinosaurs & Fossils. Figures are typical published ranges; taxonomy follows the source era and modern consensus is noted where it differs. See our sources & fact-check policy.

Related dinosaurs

Other dinosaurs from the Abelisauridae family.