RE: Tyrannosaur analogs in the south?

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> John Conway
>
>
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
> > The Late Cretaceous top predators of Gondwana were the Abelisauridae.
> > Not as big as the tyrannosaurids, nor were they particularly
> > cursorial, but like their distant northern kin they had stumpy arms.
>
> Curious, is there any reason to think Abelisaurids were less cursorial
> than tyranosaurids? /Carnotaurus/ in particular looks pretty long-legged
> to me. Genuine question, haven't looked into any research.

Well, the hindlimbs of the famous _Carnotaurus_ mounts are... how to put this 
politely... imaginitive...  Those abelisaurids for
whom distal limb elements are actually KNOWN (Majungasaurus, Aucasaurus, etc.) 
show that they are robust, blocky, and not elongated.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
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