TheropodaAbelisauridae

Carnotaurus sastrei

Carnotaurus sastrei skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, reconstructed length ~8.4 m.
Scale bar = 1 meter
Taxon
Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte, 1985
Reconstructed length
~8.5 m (28 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2011, revised 2021
Clade
  1. Theropoda
  2. Ceratosauria
  3. Abelisauridae

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An abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina, famous for the pair of thick horns above its eyes and its extremely reduced, almost vestigial forelimbs. Skin impressions show a hide studded with non-bony scutes. It made famous appearances in Disney’s Dinosaur (as the villain), and in the first season of the documentary Prehistoric Planet, where it used its tiny forelimbs (which have surprisingly mobile ball-and-socket joints at the shoulder) as part of a hypothetical mating dance.

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