Berberosaurus is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of abelisaur

Abelisaur

Abelisaurs were a group of ceratosaurian dinosaurs which lived in the Southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous period. Some well-known dinosaurs of this group include Abelisaurus, Carnotaurus, and Majungasaurus. They are known for their small arms...

oid theropod dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 from the Pliensbachian

Pliensbachian

The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale or stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic epoch or series and spans the time between 189.6 ± 1.5 Ma and 183 ± 1.5 Ma . The Pliensbachian is preceded by the Sinemurian and followed by the Toarcian.The...

-Toarcian

Toarcian

The Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age or stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 183.0 Ma and 175.6 Ma...

-age Lower Jurassic Toundoute Continental Series found in the High Atlas

High Atlas

High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas Mountains is a mountain range in central Morocco in Northern Africa.The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly...

 of Toundoute, Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate

-See also:* Tizi n'Tichka: The mountain pass that leads to Ouarzazate* List of Movies shot in Morocco-External links:* at IMDb...

, Morocco. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 of the genus Berberosaurus is B. liassicus, in reference to the Lias

Lias

Lias may refer to:*In geology:**The Lias Group, a group in the stratigraphy of Great Britain, formed during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic epochs. It includes the Blue Lias and White Lias...

 epoch

Epoch (geology)

An epoch is a subdivision of the geologic timescale based on rock layering. In order, the higher subdivisions are periods, eras and eons. We are currently living in the Holocene epoch...

. Berberosaurus is the oldest known and most basal

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 abelisauroid, and is based on partial postcrania

Postcrania

Postcrania[p] in zoology and vertebrate paleontology refers to all or part of the skeleton apart from the skull. Frequently, fossil remains, e.g...

l remains.

Classification

Ronan Allain and colleagues, who described Berberosaurus, performed a phylogenetic analysis

Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...

 and found their new genus to be the most basal known abelisauroid, more derived than Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic of Tanzania. Elaphrosaurus was probably a ceratosaur about 6 meters long. Suggestions that it is a late surviving coelophysoid have been entertained but are generally dismissed. It was first...

, Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning "horned lizard", in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal...

, and Spinostropheus

Spinostropheus

Spinostropheus is a genus of small ceratosaurian dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period of Niger. Once thought to be a species closely related to the abelisaurs , subsequent studies have confirmed the original interpretation as a basal ceratosaur closely related to Elaphrosaurus...

, but less so than Xenotarsosaurus

Xenotarsosaurus

Xenotarsosaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous of Argentina.In 1980 geologist Juan Carlos Sciutto discovered a rich fossil site six kilometres north of the Ocho Hermanos ranch in Chubut province. Among the fossils found there were some theropod...

and abelisaurians. Berberosaurus is distinguished from other theropods by anatomical details found in its vertebrae, metacarpals, and hindlimb bones. Its assignment as an abelisauroid pushes back the record of this group and shows that it had diversified by the Early Jurassic. However, in 2008 Carrano and Sampson found it to be a basal ceratosaur outside Neoceratosauria instead.

Discovery and history

The remains of Berberosaurus were discovered during a series of expeditions to the High Atlas beginning in the early 2000s. It is based on

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 an associated partial postcranial skeleton of a subadult individual cataloged in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Marrakech; bones from this skeleton include a neck vertebra, part of the sacrum

Sacrum

In vertebrate anatomy the sacrum is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the upper and back part of the pelvic cavity, where it is inserted like a wedge between the two hip bones. Its upper part connects with the last lumbar vertebra, and bottom part with the coccyx...

, a metacarpal, a femur

Femur

The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...

, and parts of a tibia

Tibia

The tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....

 and both fibulae. Part of another femur has been assigned to the genus as well. Its remains were found in bone bed

Bone bed

A bone bed is any geological stratum or deposit that contains bones of whatever kind. Inevitably, such deposits are sedimentary in nature. Not a formal term, it tends to be used more to describe especially dense collections...

s in mudflow

Mudflow

A mudslide is the most rapid and fluid type of downhill mass wasting. It is a rapid movement of a large mass of mud formed from loose soil and water. Similar terms are mudflow, mud stream, debris flow A mudslide is the most rapid (up to 80 km/h, or 50 mph) and fluid type of downhill mass...

 deposits. Later tectonic

Tectonics

Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...

 activity has affected the bones.

Paleoecology and paleobiology

Berberosaurus, like other abelisauroids, was a bipedal carnivore

Carnivore

A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...

. It was of moderate size; its estimated femur length of 50.5 centimeters (19.9 in) is comparable to femur lengths given by Gregory S. Paul

Gregory S. Paul

Gregory Scott Paul is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dinosaurs and his detailed illustrations, both live and skeletal...

 for animals like Elaphrosaurus (52.9 cm (20.8 in)) and Dilophosaurus (55.0 cm (21.7 in)). Its remains were found with those of the early sauropod Tazoudasaurus

Tazoudasaurus

Tazoudasaurus is a genus of vulcanodontid sauropod dinosaur hailing from the Early Jurassic Toundoute overthrust beds located in the High Moroccan Atlas Mountains. The remains, consisting of a partial adult skeleton and associated partial juvenile skeleton found in continental detrital sediments,...

. Also from the Early Jurassic of the High Atlas, but from another formation, are the fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s of another, smaller theropod (currently in preparation).