Abelisauridae

Uncommon card · No. 165830

Abelisauridae (meaning "Abel's lizards") is a family (or clade) of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, mainly on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa, South America, and (western) Europe, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar. Abelisaurids possibly first appeared during the Early Jurassic based on the putative abelisaurid Eoabelisaurus from Patagonia and some genera survived until the end of the Mesozoic era, around 66 million years ago. Like most theropods, abelisaurids were carnivorous bipeds. They were characterized by stocky hind limbs and extensive ornamentation of the skull bones, with grooves and pits. In many abelisaurids, such as Carnotaurus, the fore limbs are vestigial, the skull is shorter, and bony crests grow above the eyes. Most of the known abelisaurids would have been between 5 and 9 m (17 and 30 ft) in length...

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