The cervical vertebrae of the Late Cretaceous abelisaurid dinosaur Carnotaurus sastrei

MÉNDEZ, ARIEL HERNÁN

ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA POLONICA

INST PALEOBIOLOGII PAN

Lugar: Varsovia; Año: 2014 vol. 59 p. 569 - 579

0567-7920

The cervical vertebral series of Carnotaurus sastrei from Argentina is described in detail, andcompared with Majungasaurus crenatissimus from Madagascar, both Late Cretaceous(Maastrichtian) in age. Notable differences in the morphology of the cervical vertebrae,especially in the shape and development of the epipophysis and the neural spines, areobserved between these two genera. These differences show a neck much more robust inCarnotaurus than in Majungasaurus, may be linked to the evolution of the clade in relation tothe divergence time since the two genera shared a common ancestor, and functionally mayrelate to the feeding function associated to the extreme reduction of the forelimbs.