The hand structure of Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda,Abelisauridae): implications for hand diversity and evolution in abelisaurids |
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Authors: | JAVIER RUIZ ANGÉLICA TORICES HUMBERTO SERRANO VALLE LÓPEZ |
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Institution: | 1. Departamento de Geodinámica, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;2. e‐mail: jaruiz@geo.ucm.es;3. Departamento de Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;4. Instituto de Geología Económica, CSIC‐Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain |
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Abstract: | Abstract: Carnotaurus sastrei is an abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina that has very reduced, but robust, forelimbs and derived hands with four digits, including a large, conical‐shaped metacarpal IV lacking an articulation for a phalanx. The analysis presented in this work highlights a series of additional autapomorphies of C. sastrei. For example, the proximal phalanges are longer than the metacarpals in digits II and III, and digit III includes only one phalanx besides the ungual. The hand of Carnotaurus shares several features with those of Aucasaurus and Majungasaurus, but the hands of the latter genera also display autapomorphies, indicating that the diversity in abelisaurid hand structure is similar to the diversity of cranial protuberances of these dinosaurs. |
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Keywords: | Dinosauria Theropoda abelisaurs Carnotaurus |
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