Dinosaurs » A-Z Dinosaurs List » Noasaurus Dinosaur

Noasaurus belongs to the family Noasauridae where Noasaurids be a grouping of theropod dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period. It’s generally small in size and very much similar to the Abelisauridae.

The theropod family’s Abelisauridae and Noasauridae were closely interrelated because of shared derived characters such as the preantorbital fenestra, the short anterior area of the maxilla, the quadrate fused to the quadratojugal and cervical vertebrae with vestigial neural spines and hypertrophied epipophyses. Noasaurus was described by Bonaparte and Powell in 1980.

Fossils of noassaurus have been found in natural history musuem, Argentina. Basically it was  small (fewer than eight feet long) theropod, particularly a ceratosaur, discovered by Jaime Powell and José Bonaparte from the Lecho Formation of Salta Province, Argentina. It was a close comparative of the larger abelisaurids. They both were derived from the same basal abelisauroid ancestor.Noasaurus situated distant prey by smell, would come near and wait in trap, judge distance, then rush in rapid explode of speed.