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Tarascosaurus

Le Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1991 ta-RASS-ko-SOR-us Disputed

Named after the Tarasque, a legendary monster from Provencal folklore (France), combined with Greek sauros, "lizard" — means "Tarasque lizard"

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Tarascosaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Late Cretaceous of France. It was a relatively small theropod measuring 2.5-3 meters (8.2-9.8 ft) long.

Under dispute

The validity of Tarascosaurus is contested. Originally described as an abelisaurid, it was regarded as a nomen dubium by Allain and Pereda-Suberbiola (2003) and Rauhut (2003). Carrano and Sampson (2008) kept the name as probably an abelisauroid, and Tortosa and colleagues (2014) recognized it as a distinct basal abelisaurid by comparison with Genusaurus, without identifying autapomorphies. Its position within the family is unresolved.

Diagnosis

  1. Femur neck extremely narrow anteroposteriorly
  2. Transverse processes very wide anteroposteriorly
  3. Infradiapophyseal laminae diverging under diapophyses, unlike other theropods
  4. Femur head directed anteromedially
  5. Limited dorsal projection of anterior trochanter
  6. Foramen beneath anterior trochanter
  7. Hyposphene-hypantrum structure present on dorsal vertebrae
  8. Dorsal vertebrae internal structure highly cavernous

Species

Tarascosaurus salluvicus Le Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1991 Disputed

Type species

Named for the Salluvii, a Gallic tribe of Antiquity that inhabited the area near Marseille, close to the type locality in southern France.

Holotype
FSL 330201 , Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Material
Proximal half of left femur, 22 cm preserved length.
Horizon
Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Lambeau du Beausset, Var, France The holotype carries no field data at all. It reached the Lyon collections labeled only "Upper Cretaceous, Lambeau du Beausset", and its collector is unknown. Le Loeuff and Buffetaut (1991) place it in the Fuvelian on the grayish limestone matrix alone, that lithology occurring nowhere else in the syncline. The Lambeau du Beausset is itself a Triassic klippe thrust over those Cretaceous beds, so the locality names a structure rather than the rock the bones came from.

References

  1. Le Loeuff, J.; Buffetaut, E. (1991). Tarascosaurus salluvicus nov. gen., nov. sp., dinosaure théropode du Crétacé supérieur du sud de la France [Tarascosaurus salluvicus nov. gen., nov. sp., a theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France]. Géobios 25(5): 585-594. doi:10.1016/0016-6995(91)80022-r leloeuff1991a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass and hip height estimates.

    jones2026c
  3. Rauhut, O. W. M. (2003). The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology 69: 1-213. The Palaeontological Association.

    Regarded Tarascosaurus as a nomen dubium.

    rauhut2003b
  4. Allain, R.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X. (2003). Dinosaurs of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2(1): 27-44. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00002-2

    Regarded Tarascosaurus as a nomen dubium.

    allain2003a
  5. Carrano, M. T.; Sampson, S. D. (2008). The Phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6(2): 183-236. doi:10.1017/S1477201907002246

    Keeps Tarascosaurus salluvicus as probably an abelisauroid, without autapomorphies.

    carrano2008a
  6. Tortosa, T.; Buffetaut, E.; Vialle, N.; Dutour, Y.; Turini, E.; Cheylan, G. (2014). A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern France: Palaeobiogeographical implications. Annales de Paléontologie 100(1): 63-86. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2013.10.003

    Recognizes Tarascosaurus as a distinct basal abelisaurid, separated from Genusaurus by features of the proximal femur.

    tortosa2014a