Open Paleo

Noasaurinae

Bonaparte & Powell, 1980 Type genus Noasaurus

Its genera lived 121.4–66.0 million years ago Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Noasaurinae is a subfamily of small ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs that formed a Late Cretaceous radiation across the southern landmasses, with members known from South America, Madagascar, and India (then an island near Madagascar), plus indeterminate remains later reported from Australia. Because many of its members are fragmentary, much of their appearance and biology is inferred from Masiakasaurus, the most complete noasaurine. These animals generally had bodies resembling more conventional theropods, but with unusual jaws: Masiakasaurus bore a downturned lower jaw whose long, spoon-shaped front teeth splayed forward and carried serrations along their outer edges. At least one member, Noasaurus, had a large, deeply curved sickle-shaped hand claw, while Velocisaurus took the group's foot-bone reductions to an extreme. Their diet is uncertain, with proposals ranging from fish to insects and other small prey.

Diagnosis

  1. Reduced proximal end of metatarsal II
  2. Procumbent, forward-projecting anterior dentary teeth in several members
  3. Strongly recurved, enlarged pedal or manual ungual
  4. Cervical vertebrae with well-developed epipophyses

Genera placed directly in Noasaurinae

  • Laevisuchus Huene & Matley, 1933 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)India
  • Masiakasaurus Sampson et al., 2001 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)Madagascar
  • Noasaurus Bonaparte & Powell, 1980 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)Argentina
  • Velocisaurus Bonaparte, 1991 Santonian (85.7–83.6 Ma)Argentina
  • Vespersaurus Langer et al., 2019 Aptian–Albian (121.4–100.5 Ma)Brazil

References

  1. Bonaparte, J. F.; Powell, J. E. (1980). A continental assemblage of tetrapods from the Upper Cretaceous beds of El Brete, northwestern Argentina (Sauropoda-Coelurosauria-Carnosauria-Aves). Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, Nouvelle Série 139: 19-28.

    Named Noasaurus, the basis for Noasaurinae by coordination.

    bonaparte1980a
  2. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Carrano, M. T. (2016). The theropod dinosaur Elaphrosaurus bambergi Janensch, 1920, from the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru, Tanzania. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 178(3): 546-610. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12425

    Provided the phylogenetic definition of Noasaurinae.

    rauhut2016b