Open Paleo

Dahalokely

Farke & Sertich, 2013 dah-HAH-loo-KAY-lee

From Malagasy 'dahalo' meaning 'thief' and 'kely' meaning 'small', giving 'small thief', referring to its estimated small size relative to known abelisaurids; the specific name tokana means 'lonely' in Malagasy, referencing Madagascar's isolation.

93.9–89.8 million years ago Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Dahalokely is an extinct genus of carnivorous abelisauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Madagascar.

Under dispute

Dahalokely is confidently an abelisauroid, but its finer placement is unresolved. The describing analysis (Farke and Sertich, 2013) recovered it weakly as a basal noasaurid, whereas later analyses place it within Abelisauridae, variously as a basal brachyrostran (Filippi and colleagues, 2016) or a majungasaurine, and it is frequently recovered as an unstable taxon.

Diagnosis

  1. Mid-cervical vertebrae with prezygoepipophyseal lamina bearing prominent convexity at midpoint nearly equal in length to centrum, with prominent notches at either end separating convexity from epipophyses.
  2. Prezygapophyses and centroprezygapophyseal lamina nearly vertical and linear in lateral view in D1 and D2, with cranial margin of prezygapophyses and cranial face of centrum nearly co-planar.
  3. Postzygapophyses on D2 strongly concave.
  4. Infraprezygapophyseal fossa divided by a stout lamina into larger dorsal and smaller ventral portions through D6.

Species

Dahalokely tokana Farke & Sertich, 2013

Type species

From Malagasy 'tokana' meaning 'lonely', referring to the isolation of Madagascar as a subcontinent during the Turonian period when the animal lived.

Holotype
UA 9855 , Universite d’Antananarivo
Material
Partial axial column: cervical vertebra C?5, dorsal vertebrae D?1, D?2, D?6-D?9, complete left dorsal rib DR?2, capitula of two right dorsal ribs, proximal ends of two dorsal ribs, and other rib fragments; disarticulated but closely associated in situ.
Horizon
middle Ambolafotsy Formation, Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 93.9–89.8 million years ago
Locality
near Ampandriambengy, Antsiranana, Madagascar

References

  1. Farke, A. A.; Sertich, J. J. W. (2013). An Abelisauroid Theropod Dinosaur from the Turonian of Madagascar. PLoS ONE 8(4): e62047. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062047 farke2013a
  2. Filippi, L. S.; Méndez, A. H.; Juárez Valieri, R. D.; Garrido, A. C. (2016). A new brachyrostran with hypertrophied axial structures reveals an unexpected radiation of latest Cretaceous abelisaurids. Cretaceous Research 61: 209-219. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.018

    Recovered Dahalokely as a basal brachyrostran, sister to Rahiolisaurus.

    filippi2016a