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Tarascosaurus was a large predatory dinosaur from Cretaceous Europe. It lived about 80 million years ago and was

Tarascosaurus

Tarascosaurus

Tarascosaurus salluvicus
Name meaning:                         Spanish Dragon
Area:         Spain, France, and possibly Romania
Period:                                     Late Cretaceous
Diet:                                      meat and corpses
Lenght:                                        6-9m (20-30ft)
Height:                                        2-3m (6,6-10ft)
Weight:                                                      1-3t

one of the dominant predators in its environment.  Tarascosaurus was also a possible inhabitant of Romania.  It was an abelisaur, a group closely related to the earlier ceratosaurs, and is one of the only abelisaurs found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Description

Like all Abelisaurs, Tarascosaurus had a somewhat short skull. It's jaws were very powerful and housed dozens of sharp teeth over 3 inches long. Tarascosaurus also had very short amrs. In fact, Abelisaurs in general had some of the shortest arms compared to body size of any dinosaur. They also had 4 fingers. 

Size

Due to the fact that its remains are fragmentary, the size of Tarascosaurus is somwhat debated. The lowest estimates put it at about 20 feet (6 meters) long and 1 ton in weight. However, many estimates hover between 26 and 30 feet (8-9 meters) long and 2-3 tons. These measurements make Tarascosaurus one of the largest abelisaurs found thus far.

Grsbs

Size comparison

Speed

Tarascosaurus, like many abelisaurs, had long, powerful legs. It is thought that Tarascosaurus may have been able to run at a top speed of over 20 miles per hour.

Hunting and Diet

Tarascosaurus was one of the apex predators of its environment. It would have had a large variety of prey to hunt, including sauropods and iguanodonts. With the dromaeosaur Pyroraptor being its only significant competition, Tarascosaurus most likely did not have to struggle to find prey.

In Popular Culture

While Tarascosaurus is not a very well known theropod, it still made one major appearance in the media. The documentary Dinosaur Planet

Tarascosaurus 2

Tarascosaurus as it was shown in Dinosaur Planet

featured Tarascosaurus as the foremost predator of Southern Europe. In the same documentary there are even two dwarf Tarascosaurus.









Gallery

See Also

Ceratosauria

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