Niebla
"mist"
Type species Niebla antiqua
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Abelisauridae
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Aranciaga Rolando et al. 2021
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
Shallow waterways crossed the landscape preserved in the Allen Formation. Its neighbors included Austroraptor, Bonapartenykus and Quilmesaurus.
Field notes
About Niebla
What it was like
Niebla was an abelisaur, a two-legged hunter with a short, deep head and tiny arms. It is known from part of a skull, a shoulder blade and a few other bones.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Allen Formation, where it shared the land with the hunter Abelisaurus, the raptor Austroraptor and the titanosaurs Aeolosaurus and Neuquensaurus.
How it was found
Aranciaga Rolando and colleagues named Niebla in 2021, from a single find.
Field gallery
More views of Niebla
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Niebla.
The evidence
The science behind Niebla
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen includes a nearly complete braincase, part of a lower jaw and teeth, shoulder bones, ribs and fragments of vertebrae. Its skull roof has rounded swellings above the eyes and a central depression.
- Its shoulder blade was narrow and straight, with a broad plate around the shoulder joint.
- Growth marks in a rib show that the known animal had reached adult size.
Borrowed from relatives
- Missing parts of the face and jaw are restored by comparison with Majungasaurus.
- The reduced arms and hands are restored by comparison with Majungasaurus and Carnotaurus.
- Missing legs are restored by comparison with Majungasaurus, and parts of the backbone and tail with Eoabelisaurus.
Still unknown
- The shape of the front of its skull.
- Its exact arm proportions.
- Its color.
Discovery timeline
- 2011Family treeRUIZ et al.
- 2017Full descriptionBurch
- 2018Family treeDelcourt
- 2021Named itAranciaga Rolando et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Niebla
Family tree
Compared the reduced hands of Carnotaurus, Aucasaurus and Majungasaurus, useful relatives for restoring the missing arms of Niebla.
The hand structure of Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda, Abelisauridae): implications for hand diversity and evolution in abelisaurids. Palaeontology 54: 1271-1277
Read the paper : The hand structure of Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda, Abelisauridae): implications for hand diversity and evolution in abelisaurids (opens in a new tab)Full description
Reconstructed the forelimb muscles of Majungasaurus from its reduced arm bones, providing a comparison for the missing arms of Niebla.
Myology of the forelimb of Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda, Abelisauridae) and the morphological consequences of extreme limb reduction. Journal of Anatomy 231: 515-531
Read the paper : Myology of the forelimb of Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda, Abelisauridae) and the morphological consequences of extreme limb reduction (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Reviewed ceratosaur anatomy and evolution, including the deep skulls and reduced forelimbs of abelisaurids.
Ceratosaur palaeobiology: new insights on evolution and ecology of the southern rulers. Scientific Reports 8
Read the paper : Ceratosaur palaeobiology: new insights on evolution and ecology of the southern rulers (opens in a new tab)Named it
Described a smaller adult abelisaurid with distinctive braincase and shoulder bones.
A new medium-sized abelisaurid (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from the late cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Allen Formation of Northern Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 105: 102915
Read the paper : A new medium-sized abelisaurid (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from the late cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Allen Formation of Northern Patagonia, Argentina (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Abelisauridae
Sources: Wikidata