Llukalkan
From Mapuche llukalkan meaning "one who causes fear" or "one who scares"
Late Cretaceous stages
Llukalkan is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina.
Diagnosis
- Single autapomorphy: caudal tympanic recess located just posterior to columellar recess
- T-shaped lacrimal with anterior ramus longer than half of ventral ramus length
- Slender lacrimal jugal ramus without posterior suborbital process
- Notch followed by bulge on anteromedial border of supratemporal fossa
- Dorsoventrally expanded paroccipital processes with posterodorsally oriented distal ends
- Large foramina for caudal middle cerebral veins widely separated from supraoccipital crest
- Slender and anteroventrally projected basipterygoid processes
Species
Llukalkan aliocranianus Gianechini et al., 2021
Type species
From Latin 'alius' meaning 'different' and 'cranium' meaning 'skull', translating to 'different skull', referring to the distinctive cranial features that distinguish it from related abelisaurids.
- Holotype
- MAU-Pv-LI-581 , Museo Argentino Urquiza, Rincón de los Sauces
- Material
- Partial skull
- Horizon
- Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
- Locality
- La Invernada fossil area, Neuquén, Argentina
References
- Gianechini, F. A.; Méndez, A. H.; Filippi, L. S.; Paulina-Carabajal, A.; Juárez Valieri, R. D.; Garrido, A. C. (2021). A new furileusaurian abelisaurid from La Invernada (Upper Cretaceous, Santonian, Bajo de la Carpa Formation), northern Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(6): e1877151. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1877151 gianechini2021a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the mass and hip height estimates.
jones2026c