CRANIOFACIAL ANATOMY OF MAJUNGASAURUS CRENATISSIMUS (THEROPODA: ABELISAURIDAE) FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF MADAGASCAR

ABSTRACT

Recent fieldwork in the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Maevarano Formation, northwest Madagascar, has yielded important new skull material of the abelisaurid theropod, Majungasaurus crenatissimus. One of these specimens in particular—a virtually complete, disarticulated, and well preserved skull—greatly elucidates the craniofacial osteology of abelisaurids. Herein we describe the skull and lower jaws of this mid-sized theropod dinosaur. A number of features of the facial skeleton and cranium (as well as the postcranium) appear to result from increased levels of mineralization and ossification, which, at least in some instances, can be related directly to specific soft-tissue structures; examples include lacrimal-postorbital contact dorsal to the orbit, suborbital processes of the lacrimal and postorbital, presence of a mineralized interorbital septum, fused interdental plates, and mineralization of the overlying integument. Autapomorphic features include a highly derived nasal—greatly thickened and fused to its counterpart, with a large interior pneumatic chamber—and a median, ‘dome’-like thickening of the frontals, which appear to have been variably pneumatized by a paranasal air sac. Majungasaurus also possesses a derived suite of skull morphologies, including: a rostrocaudally abbreviated, dorsoventrally deep, and transversely broad skull; an expanded occiput, likely associated with expanded cervical musculature; short-crowned dentition; and an enlarged external mandibular fenestra consistent with a moderate degree of intramandibular movement or accommodation. A number of characters, present on both the skull and postcranial skeleton, suggest a divergent mode of predation relative to other, non-abelisaurid theropods.