Abelisauridae

Abelisaurids Temporal range: Cretaceous PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Possibly present since Jurassic based on Eoabelisaurus and indeterminate fossils
Majungasaurus crenatissimus skeleton, Stony Brook University
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Superfamily:	†Abelisauroidea
Family:	†Abelisauridae Bonaparte & Novas, 1985
Type species
†Abelisaurus comahuensis Bonaparte & Novas, 1985
Subgroups
†Chenanisaurus †Dahalokely? †Eoabelisaurus? †Genusaurus? †Indosuchus †Kryptops †Kurupi †Rugops †Spectrovenator †Tarascosaurus †Tralkasaurus †Xenotarsosaurus †Brachyrostra †Majungasaurinae

Abelisauridae (meaning "Abel's lizards") is a family (or clade) of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa and South America, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar. Isolated teeth were found in the Late Jurassic of Portugal,^[1] and the Late Cretaceous genera Tarascosaurus, Arcovenator and Caletodraco have been described in France.^[2][3] Abelisaurids possibly first appeared during the Jurassic period based on fossil records, and some genera survived until the end of the Mesozoic era, around 66 million years ago.^[4]

Like most theropods, abelisaurids were carnivorous bipeds. They were characterized by stocky hind limbs and extensive ornamentation of the skull bones, with grooves and pits. In many abelisaurids, such as Carnotaurus, the forelimbs are vestigial, the skull is shorter, and bony crests grow above the eyes. Most of the known abelisaurids would have been between 5 and 9 m (17 to 30 ft) in length, from snout to tip of tail, with a new and as yet unnamed specimen from northwestern Turkana in Kenya, Africa reaching a possible length of 11–12 m (36 to 39 ft).^[5] Before becoming well known, fragmentary abelisaurid remains were occasionally misidentified as possible South American tyrannosaurids.^[6]