Sastre's Flesh-Bull


Carnotaurus sastrei

(Bonaparte, 1985)

    The neoceratosaurs are a diverse group of predatory dinosaurs that spread across Gondwana during the Jurassic.  Now, in the latest epoch of the Early Cretaceous, a branch of the neoceratosaur tree, clade Abelisauroidea, has ensconced itself in South America (among other places).  In South America, the abelisauroids have diversified into numerous forms, including large predators such as Abelisaurus and small ones like Noasaurus.  In size, Carnotaurus sastrei inhabits the middle range of abelisauroid diversity.  In general appearance, however, C. sastrei is by far the strangest creature in a strange family.

    C. sastrei is a medium-sized carnivore of the Early Cretaceous, South American pampas.  This dinosaur possesses a very short,  rather bulldog-like snout, a longer-than average neck, tiny arms, and a barrel chest.  C. sastrei is a predator that kills with its mouth, ramming its muzzle into the flesh of a sauropod, raking thin, bladelike teeth through muscle and ligament, and then retreating while the sauropod is weakened by blood loss.

    This species's horns (from which the name "Carnotaurus" is derived) are unusually large, triangular structures that sprout, winglike over the eyes.  These horns are used as display and, during the mating season, as a battering ram in shoving contests.

    C. sastrei's arms, another notable feature of this dinosaur, are remarkably shrunken and atrophied.

    Treading through the lowland bracken of ferns and small angiosperms, long-necked, short-faced C. sastrei watch for sign of the sauropods that make up their diet.

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© Daniel Bensen 2001
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