Abelisauroid teeth from Cretaceous equatorial Brazil

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

A new paper:

M.P.S. Rocha, T. Aureliano, B. Holgado, C.L.de A. Santos & A.M. Ghilardi (2025)
Abelisauroids from equatorial Brazil: new records from the Açu Formation (Cenomanian), Potiguar Basin, Northeast Brazil
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 105755
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2025.105755
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981125004171


Highlights

First record of Noasauridae in the Potiguar Basin, NE Brazil;
Abelisaurids were apex predators in Açu Formation;
Açu fauna shows strong affinities with Cenomanian units in North Africa;
First trophic web reconstruction for Açu Formation.

Abstract
Despite the growing number of discoveries in South America, the theropod fossil record from equatorial Gondwana remains fragmentary, limiting our understanding of mid-Cretaceous faunal composition and biogeographic patterns. Here, we report a set of isolated theropod teeth from the Açu Formation (Cenomanian), Potiguar Basin, Northeast Brazil, and analyze them using an integrative framework that combines morphometrics and cladistic analysis. Three well-preserved specimens were taxonomically assigned to Abelisauridae and a likely Noasauridae, with the latter representing the first formal record of this group in the Potiguar Basin. While the phylogenetic analysis placed one tooth within Noasauridae and two within Abelisauridae, the morphometric analysis did not recover the noasaurid specimen within the expected morphospace for this clade, suggesting possible convergent dental morphologies or undersampling bias. We further present a reconstructed trophic web for the Açu Formation paleoecosystem, and compare its theropod assemblage to those of coeval mid-Cretaceous formations in Brazil and North Africa. The results reveal faunal affinities at both regional and intercontinental scales with other Cenomanian deposits, reinforcing the Cenomanian age of the Açu Formation. Furthermore, it underscores the role of this formation as a key area for understanding one of the final episodes of biotic interchange prior to the establishment of the South Atlantic as a biogeographic barrier.

[Gregory Paul]

What is the highest letter count in the species name of a dinosaur? Not the genus, just the species. So far I have 17. 

GSPaul

[Ethan Schoales]

Which name do you have in mind?

On Sat, Aug 23, 2025 at 11:12 PM 'Gregory Paul' via Dinosaur Mailing Group <DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

What is the highest letter count in the species name of a dinosaur? Not the genus, just the species. So far I have 17. 

GSPaul

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[Gregory Paul]

Not being sure of the answer, I am asking the question.

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[Ethan Schoales]

So where does your 17 number come from? That’s what I meant.

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[Gregory Paul]

That is the highest count I got so far. Are there any that are any higher? 

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[Ethan Schoales]

Which name gave you the 17 count?

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[The Dinosaur Heretic]

Which species name is 17 letters long?

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[Jake Kotevski]

I'm also curious about the species name of 17 letters.

As an aside though, the species name of the ?megaraptoran Vayuraptor is 18 letters:

nongbualamphuensis

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Monash University

Clayton VIC 3800

Australia

[Gregory Paul]

Thanks! 

What a like, a person who gets the question and answers it without fuss and bother. 

No need for further answers. 

GSPaul

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[Ethan Schoales]

Greg, which species name with 17 letters were you referring to in the first place? Is there a reason you don’t want to say it?

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[Jerry Harris]

Assuming you mean non-avian dinosaurs; otherwise there's the crowned slaty flycatcher, Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus.

[Jake Kotevski]

While nongbualamphuensis does exceed 18 letters, there is every chance a different species' letter count does exceed it - this was just an example of something above 17. 

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[Jake Kotevski]

Sorry, while it is* 18 letters.

[Justin Tweet]

18 characters is the max to date for nonavian dinosaurs (helps to have a spreadsheet!). There are two others of this length besides Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis: Hypnovenator matsubaraetoheorum and Zhuchengtitan zangjiazhuangensis.-Justin

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Justin Tweet

Equatorial Minnesota, home of The Compact Thescelosaurus