title: An abelisauroid theropod dinosaur from the Turonian of Madagascar.
abstract: Geophysical evidence strongly supports the complete isolation of India and Madagascar (Indo-Madagascar) by ∼100 million years ago, though sparse terrestrial fossil records from these regions prior to ∼70 million years ago have limited insights into their biogeographic history during the Cretaceous. A new theropod dinosaur, Dahalokely tokana, from Turonian-aged (∼90 million years old) strata of northernmost Madagascar is represented by a partial axial column. Autapomorphies include a prominently convex prezygoepipophyseal lamina on cervical vertebrae and a divided infraprezygapophyseal fossa through the mid-dorsal region, among others. Phylogenetic analysis definitively recovers the species as an abelisauroid theropod and weakly as a noasaurid. Dahalokely is the only known dinosaur from the interval during which Indo-Madagascar likely existed as a distinct landmass, but more complete material is needed to evaluate whether or not it is more closely related to later abelisauroids of Indo-Madagascar or those known elsewhere in Gondwana.
authors: Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, Claremont, California, USA. afarke@webb.org
authors: Andrew A
authors: AA
authors: Farke
authors: Joseph J W
authors: JJ
authors: Sertich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000145:classification*; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D007194:India; D008270:Madagascar
references: Science. 1995 Feb 10;267(5199):852-5
references: 17813912
references: Naturwissenschaften. 2009 Mar;96(3):409-14
references: 19057888
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Aug 22;279(1741):3170-5
references: 22628475
references: Science. 1998 May 15;280(5366):1048-51
references: 9582112