A new genus and species of theropods of Abeliding have been discovered by a team of paleontologists from Argentina, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
Geological map showing the location of Vitosaura Colozacani In the formation of Los Llanos, the province of Rioja, Argentina. Image credit: Jiménez Vellandia and al., DOI: 10.5710 / AMGH.24.09.2025.3653.
Newly discovered dinosaurs species, Vitosaura ColozacaniTraveling our planet about 80 million years ago (Upper Cretaceous era).
The former creature belongs to Abelisauridae, a group of predatory dinosaurs who mainly prospered in Gondwana during the Cretaceous period.
The fossil file of this group is currently represented by more than 25 species, and their most complete and abundant recordings come from Argentina Patagonia.
“ABELISAURIDAE is a clade of ceratosaurian theropods erected in 1985 and characterized by the presence of a robust, short and large skull, of maxillary and well -decorated frontal, a highly pneumatized axial skeleton, and its ancient in the preceding,” said Dr. Harold Jiménez Velandia De Concet and his colleagues.
“The discovery of several Abelisaurid species in recent decades, mainly in the masses of Gondwanan, has considerably improved our understanding of this group of theropods.”
“Abelisauridae was the dominant clade of theropod dinosaurs during the Cretaceous in Gondwana, with many records in North Africa and in Indo-Madagascar, and they also reached Laurasia in what is current Central Europe.”
“Beyond these records, the group has surprisingly succeeded in South America, with a very abundant fossil record.”
The fossilized bones of Vitosaura Colozacani were searched during the field trips in 2009 and 2010, in the locality of Tama of the Llanos formation in the province of Rioja, in northwestern Argentina.
“The remains of theropods are represented by a first dorsal centrum, a second dorsal vertebra, a partial sacrum, left ilium, pubis and ischium, and other indeterminate elements,” said paleontologists.
“The specimens were associated with several postcranian remains of the Titanosaur.”
Vitosaura Colozacani was a medium-sized Abelisauride with a total length between 4.5 and 5.5 m (15-18 feet).
The species lived in a seasonal, semi-arid and drained environment, with average annual precipitation fluctuating between 230 and 450 mm per year.
“The discovery of Vitosaura Colozacani In the Campanian beds of the Llanos formation in the province of Rioja, expands the geographic distribution of Abélisaurides, but the implications of the new species are limited by its incompleteness and the state of flow that we not in multiple recent phylogenetic analyzes focused on the interrelations of Abelidrid, “said the researchers.
“We consider that it is necessary to carry out new studies to improve the topological robustness of the phylogeny of Abelisauridae and discover new materials assigned to Vitosaura Colozacani To test the phylogenetic hypotheses discussed in our study more robust. »»
The results were published on October 2, 2025 in the journal Ameghiniana.
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Harold Jiménez Vellandia and al. 2025. A new species at the end of the Cretaceous of Abelisaurid from the Rioja province, northwest of Argentina. Ameghiniana 62 (5): 1-23; DOI: 10.5710 / AMGH.24.09.2025.3653
