Everything that wanted to know about Majungasaurus

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

This 184 pp. volume came with my copy of JVP (although not as surprise):

Sampson, S. D. & D.W. Krause (eds.) 2007. _Majungasaurus crenatissimus 
(Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of
Madagascar. SVP Memoir 8. 184 pp.

All papers have abstracts in English and Malagasy.

Individual articles are:
Krause, D.W., S.D. Sampson, M.T. Carrano & P.M. O'Connor. Overview of the 
history of discovery, taxonomy, phylogeny, and
biogeography of _Majungasaurus crenatissumus_ (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) form 
the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. 1-20.

Argues that _Majungasaurus crenatissimus_ is the proper name of the critter. 
Detailed history of discovery. Shows phylogeny from
forthcoming Carrano & Sampson J of Sys Paleo paper in which _Majungasaurus_, 
_Rajasaurus_, and _Indosaurus_ form a clade of
Indomadagascan abelisaurids relative to all others.

Rogers, R.R., D.W. Krause, K. Curry Rogers, A.H. Rasoamiaramanana & L. 
Rahanarisoa. Paleoenivronment and paleoecology of
_Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late 
Cretaceous of Madagascar. 21-31.

Cool field photos.

Sampson, S.D. & L.W. Witmer. Craniofacial anatomy of _Majungasaurus 
crenatissimus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late
Cretaceous of Madagascar. 32-102.

Wow. Just... wow. Skull anatomy, inside and out. Including pnematicity, 
cephalic soft tissues, etc.

Smith, J.B. Dental morphology and variation in _Majungasaurus crenatissimus 
(Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of
Madagascar. 103-126.

Measurements galore of the teeth of Majunga. People who think that abelisaurids 
have tyrannosaurid-like premaxillary teeth need to
look at Fig. 9 and compare them to the latter (e.g., in Brochu's T. rex 
monograph or my Dinosauria chapter). Ha-friggin-rumph...

O'Connor, P.M. The postcranial axial skeleton of _Majungasaurus crenatissimus 
(Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of
Madagascar. 127-162.

Majunga joins Allo, Tyranno, and only a few others as a theropod with pretty 
much every vertebra now documented from multiple
angles.

Carrano, M.T. The appendicular skeleton of _Majungasaurus crenatissimus 
(Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of
Madagascar. 164-179.

Behold the short stockiness that is the abelisaurid hindlimb. People, remember: 
the "legs" of the _Carnotaurus_ mount are imaginary
from just below the knees...

Farke, A.A. & P.M. O'Connor. Pathology in _Majungasaurus crenatissimus 
(Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of
Madagascar. 180-184.

No, that's not a pygostyle...  (Andy & Patrick do NOT say that it is. However, 
I can just imagine some people seeing FMNH PR 2294
and saying that it was).

And to put things in perspective about the amount of material available, Farke 
and O'Connor have a sentence in the abstract that
reads "In a survey of 181 postcranial skeletal elements from a minimum of 21 
individuals..."

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796