This is an accepted version of this page Abelisauridae (meaning "Abel's lizards") is a family (or clade) of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs.

Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa and South America, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar.

[2][3] Abelisaurids possibly first appeared during the Jurassic period based on fossil records, and some genera survived until the end of the Mesozoic era, around 66 million years ago.

They were characterized by stocky hind limbs and extensive ornamentation of the skull bones, with grooves and pits.

[6] Abelisaurid hind limbs were more typical of ceratosaurs, with the astragalus and calcaneum (upper ankle bones) fused to each other and to the tibia, forming a tibiotarsus.

The eye would have been located in the upper compartment, which was tilted slightly outwards in Carnotaurus, perhaps providing some degree of binocular vision.

[7][8][9] In Arcovenator, the dorsal margin of the postorbital (and probably also the lacrimal) is thickened dorsolaterally, forming a strong and rugose bony brow ridge rising above the level of the skull roof.

[11] The bones of the forearm (radius and ulna) were extremely short, only 25% of the length of the upper arm (humerus) in Carnotaurus and 33% in Aucasaurus.

[23][24][25] In 2014, the description of Arcovenator escotae from southern France provided the first indisputable evidence of the presence of Abelisaurids in Europe.

Arcovenator presents strong similarities with the Madagascan Majungasaurus and Indian abelisaurids, but not with the South American forms.

[27][28] Later, it was redefined as a stem-based taxon, including all animals more closely related to Abelisaurus (or the more complete Carnotaurus) than to Noasaurus.

These shared features, along with the fact that abelisaurids seem to have replaced carcharodontosaurids in South America, have led to suggestions that the two groups were related.

[36][37][38] With the description of Skorpiovenator in 2008, Canale et al. published another phylogenetic analysis focusing on the South American abelisaurids.

In their results, they found that all South American forms, including Ilokelesia (except Abelisaurus), grouped together as a subclade of carnotaurines, which they named the Brachyrostra.

[41] Berberosaurus Deltadromeus Spinostropheus Limusaurus Elaphrosaurus Ceratosaurus Genyodectes Laevisuchus Masiakasaurus Noasaurus Velocisaurus Eoabelisaurus Rugops Abelisaurus Majungasaurus Indosaurus Rajasaurus Ilokelesia Ekrixinatosaurus Skorpiovenator Carnotaurus Aucasaurus In the 2021 description of Llukalkan, the following consensus tree was recovered.

[42] Kryptops Genusaurus Arcovenator Rajasaurus Indosaurus Majungasaurus Xenotarsosaurus Dahalokely Rahiolisaurus Ilokelesia Ekrixinatosaurus Skorpiovenator Llukalkan Pycnonemosaurus Quilmesaurus Viavenator Carnotaurus Aucasaurus Abelisaurus Fossil teeth found amid the bones of a titanosaur from the Allen Formation of Argentina suggest that abelisaurids preyed upon or at least scavenged titanosaurs.

[43] Studies of the abelisaurid Majungasaurus indicate that it was a much slower-growing dinosaur than other theropods, taking nearly 20 years to reach adult size.