Austrocheirus
| Austrocheirus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Averostra |
| Genus: | †Austrocheirus Ezcurra et al., 2010 |
| Species: | †A. isasii
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Austrocheirus isasii Ezcurra et al., 2010
| |
Austrocheirus is an extinct genus of theropod dinosaur, possibly a neoceratosaurian, which existed during the late Cretaceous period. It was named and described by Martín Ezcurra, Federico Agnolin and Fernando Novas in 2010. It contains the type species Austrocheirus isasii. The generic name means "southern hand". The specific epithet honours discoverer and preparator Marcelo Pablo Isasi.[1]
The fossils were found on 17 March 2002 in the Pari Aike Formation, which dates from the Maastrichtian, around 71 to 65 million years ago. These fossils consist of a partial manus (hand), a tibia, axial bones, and a foot bone.[1]
A cladistic analysis indicated Austrocheirus had a basal position in the Abelisauroidea, but was more derived than Ceratosaurus and Berberosaurus. This would make it the first known mid-sized abelisauroid which did not possess the reduced forelimbs seen in other members of that clade.[1]
The referral of Austrocheirus to Abelisauroidea was challenged by Oliver Rauhut (2012), who claimed that the putative abelisauroid synapomorphies used to justify this referral are actually also present in the skeletons of non-abelisauroid theropods. Thus, according to Rauhut Austrocheirus can be only classified as a theropod dinosaur of uncertain phylogenetic placement.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Ezcurra, M.D., Agnolin, F.L. & Novas, F.E. (2010). "An abelisauroid dinosaur with a non-atrophied manus from the Late Cretaceous Pari Aike Formation of southern Patagonia" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2450: 1–25.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Oliver W.M. Rauhut (2012). "A reappraisal of a putative record of abelisauroid theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of England". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. in press. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2012.05.008.
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