Outline: a typical theropod
Tralkasaurus
"thunder lizard"
Type species Tralkasaurus cuyi
- Lived
- 97 to 94 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Abelisauridae
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Cerroni et al. 2020
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
95 million years ago
Field notes
About Tralkasaurus
What it was like
Tralkasaurus was a medium-sized abelisaur, a two-legged hunter with a short head and tiny arms. It is known from part of a skeleton, including a piece of the upper jaw.
It was smaller than most of its relatives, and may have hunted smaller prey than the giant hunters it lived with.
Its world
It lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Huincul Formation, where it shared the land with the giant Argentinosaurus and the big hunters Mapusaurus and Meraxes.
How it was found
Cerroni and colleagues named Tralkasaurus in 2020, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Abelisauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: M. A. Cerroni, M. J. Motta, and F. L. Agnolín, A. M. Aranciaga Rolando, F. Brissón Egli, F. E. Novas. 2020. A new abelisaurid from the Huincul Formation (Cenomanian-Turonian; Upper Cretaceous) of Río Negro province, Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 98:102445:1-10