Carnotaurus neck vertebrae

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

New in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica:


Ariel H. Méndez (2012)
The cervical vertebrae of the Late Cretaceous abelisaurid dinosaur
Carnotaurus sastrei.
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (advance online publication)
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0129
http://app.pan.pl/article/item/app20110129.html


The cervical vertebral series of Carnotaurus sastrei from Argentina is
described in detail, and compared 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,
are observed between these two genera. These differences show a neck
much more robust in Carnotaurus than in Majungasaurus, may be linked
to the evolution of the clade in relation to the divergence time since
the two genera shared a common ancestor, and functionally may relate
to the feeding function associated to the extreme reduction of the
forelimbs.