The hand structure of Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda, Abelisauridae): implications for hand diversity and evolution in abelisaurids

54 6 November 1271 1277 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01091.x

RUIZ, J., TORICES, A., SERRANO, H., LÓPEZ, V. 2011. The hand structure of Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda, Abelisauridae): implications for hand diversity and evolution in abelisaurids. Palaeontology, 54, 6, 1271–1277.

Javier Ruiz, Angélica Torices, Humberto Serrano and Valle López Carnotaurus sastrei is an abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina that has very reduced, but robust, forelimbs and derived hands with four digits, including a large, conical-shaped metacarpal IV lacking an articulation for a phalanx. The analysis presented in this work highlights a series of additional autapomorphies of C. sastrei. For example, the proximal phalanges are longer than the metacarpals in digits II and III, and digit III includes only one phalanx besides the ungual. The hand of Carnotaurus shares several features with those of Aucasaurus and Majungasaurus, but the hands of the latter genera also display autapomorphies, indicating that the diversity in abelisaurid hand structure is similar to the diversity of cranial protuberances of these dinosaurs
  • ALLAIN, R., TYKOSKI, R., AQUESBI, N., JALIL, N., MONBARON, M., RUSSELL, D. and TAQUET, P. 2007. An abelisauroid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Jurassic of the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, and the radiation of ceratosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27, 610–624.
  • BONAPARTE, J. F. 1991. The Gondwanian theropod families Abelisauridae y Noasauridae. Historical Biology, 5, 1–25.
  • BONAPARTE, J. F., NOVAS, F. E. and CORIA, R. A. 1990. Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte, the horned, lightly built carnosaur from the middle Cretaceous of Patagonia. Contributions in Science, 416, 1–41.
  • BURCH, S. and CARRANO, M. 2008. Abelisaurid forelimb evolution: new evidence from Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Abelisauridae: Theropoda) from the late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22 (Suppl. 3), 58A.
  • CANALE, J. I., SCANFERLA, C. A., AGNOLIN, F. L. and NOVAS, F. E. 2009. New carnivorous dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of NW Patagonia and the evolution of the abelisaurid theropods. Naturwissenschaften, 96, 409–414.
  • CARRANO, M. T. 2007. The appendicular skeleton of Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Majungasaurus crenatissimus from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir, 8, 163–179.
  • CARRANO, M. T. and SAMPSON, S. D. 2008. The phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Paleontology, 6, 183–236.
  • COLBERT, E. H. 1989. The Triassic dinosaurs Coelophysis. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin, 53, 1–69.
  • CORIA, R. A., CHIAPPE, L. M. and DINGUS, L. 2002. A new close relative of Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte 1985 (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22, 460–465.
  • EZCURRA, M. D., AGNOLIN, F. L. and AND NOVAS, F. E. 2010. An abelisauroid dinosaurs with a non-atropied manus from the Late Cretaceous Pari Aike Formation of southern Patagonia. Zootaxa, 2450, 1–25.
  • GILMORE, C. W. 1920. Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosaurs in the United State National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 110, 1–154.
  • HOLTZ, T. R., MOLNAR, R. E. and CURRIE, P. J. 2004. Basal Tetanurae. 71–110. In WEISHAMPEL, D. B., DOBSON, P. and OSMÓLSKA, H. (eds). The Dinosauria, Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 861 pp.
  • LAMANNA, M. C., MARTÍNEZ, R. D. and SMITH, J. B. 2002. A new abelisauroid theropod from northwestern Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22, 58–69.
  • LANGER, M. C. 2004. Basal Saurischia. 25–46. In WEISHAMPEL, D. B., DOBSON, P. and OSMÓLSKA, H. (eds). The Dinosauria, Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 861 pp.
  • MAKOVICKY, P. J., KOBAYASHI, Y. and CURRIE, P. J. 2004. Ornithomimosauria. 137–150. In WEISHAMPEL, D. B., DOBSON, P. and OSMÓLSKA, H. (eds). The Dinosauria, Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 861 pp.
  • MIDDLETON, K. M. and GATESY, S. M. 2000. Theropod forelimb design and evolution. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 128, 149–187.
  • NORMAN, D. 1985. The illustrated encyclopaedia of dinosaurs. Salamander Books, London, 208 pp.
  • NOVAS, F. E. 2009. The age of dinosaurs in South America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, xxi + 452 pp.
  • SAMPSON, S. D., WITMER, L. M., FORSTER, C. A., KRAUSE, D. W., O’CONNOR, P. M., DODSON, P. and RAVOAVY, F. 1998. Predatory dinosaur remains from Madagascar: implications for the Cretaceus biogeography of Gondwana. Science, 280, 1048–1051.
  • SERENO, P. C. 1994. Dinosaurian precursors from the Middle Triassic of Argentina: Marasuchus lilloensis, gen. nov. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 14, 53–73.
  • SERENO, P. C., WILSON, J. A. and CONRAD, J. L. 2004. New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 271, 1325–1330.
  • TYKOSKI, R. S. and ROWE, T. 2004. Ceratosauria. 47–70. In WEISHAMPEL, D. B., DOBSON, P. and OSMÓLSKA, H. (eds). The Dinosauria, Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 861 pp.
  • WAGNER, G. P. and GAUTHIER, J. A. 1999. 1,2,3 = 2,3,4: a solution to the problem of the homology of the digits in the avian hand. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 96, 5111–5116.
  • XU, X., CLARK, J. M., MO, J., CHOINIERE, J., FORSTER, C. A., ERICKSON, G. M., HONE, D. W. E., SULLIVAN, C., EBERTH, D. A., NESBITT, S., ZHAO, Q., HERNANDEZ, R., JIA, C., HAN, F. and GUO, Y. 2009. A Jurassic ceratosaurs from China helps clarify avian digital homologies. Nature, 459, 940–944.
Wiley Online Library