Xenotarsosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Xenotarsosaurus"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
infraordo = Ceratosauria
familia = Abelisauridae
genus = "Xenotarsosaurus"
genus_authority=Martinez, Gimenez, Rodriguez & Bochatey, 1987
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"X. bonapartei" Martinez, Gimenez, Rodriguez & Bochatey, 1987 (type)

"Xenotarsosaurus" is a little-understood genus of abelisaurid theropod that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Campanian and Maastrichtian). It was described by Martinez, Gimenez, Rodriguez and Bochatey in 1987.

Etymology

"Xenos", Greek for strange; "tarsos", Greek for tarsus; "sauros", Greek for lizard. "bonapartei", from Bonaparte (not Napoleon Bonaparte, but José Bonaparte, Argentinian paleontologist).

Classification

The only fossil evidence consists of two vertebrae and leg bones (femur, tibia, fibula and astragalocalcaneum) retrieved from the Bajo Barreal Formation, Chubut, Argentina. These remains show some similarities to "Carnotaurus sastrei", implying that "Xenotarsosaurus" could belong to Abelisauridae. However, it has also been proposed that "Xenotarsosaurus" is placed as an allosaur. Either way, its remains are too fragmentary to assure a correct placement.

External links

* [http://www.dinoruss.org/de_4/5c3d0fc.htm DinoRuss map showing location of "Xenotarsosaurus" remains]
* [http://www.dinodata.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7530&Itemid=67 "Xenotarsosaurus" at DinoData]
* [http://home.comcast.net/~eoraptor/Ceratosauria.htm#Xenotarsosaurusbonapartei "Xenotarsosaurus" at The Theropod Database]