Majungasaurinae

Majungasaurinae Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 94–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Majungasaurus crenatissimus mounted skeleton, Stony Brook University
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	†Abelisauridae
Subfamily:	†Majungasaurinae Tortosa et al., 2014
Type species
†Majungasaurus crenatissimus (Depéret, 1896 [originally Megalosaurus]) Lavocat, 1955
Subgroups
†Abelisaurus?[1] †Arcovenator †Dahalokely? †Indosaurus †Majungasaurus †Rahiolisaurus? †Rajasaurus
Synonyms
Majungasaurini Tortosa et al., 2014 vide Delcourt, 2018

Majungasaurinae (after Majungasaurus, itself named after the city of Mahajanga in Madagascar) is a subfamily of large carnivorous theropods from the Upper Cretaceous, found in Madagascar, India, and France. It is a subgroup within the theropod family Abelisauridae, a Gondwanan clade known for their thick and often horned skulls and vestigial arms. The two subfamilies of Abelisauridae are Carnotaurinae, best known from the South American Carnotaurus, and Majungasaurinae, consisting of Madagascar’s Majungasaurus and its closest relatives. Their ancestors emerged in the Middle Jurassic, and the clade lasted until the Upper Cretaceous.

The majungasaurines were mid-sized, bipedal predators, but relatively slow moving. Their stout legs were built for striding, not running. They had tall, deep heads with powerful jaws, but small forearms without carpals in the wrists. Because of their slow gait and small arms, they likely preyed upon the larger, slower sauropods rather than the smaller, faster ornithopods. Their ancestors lived on a unified southern continent, Gondwana, in the Early Cretaceous, but as the land mass divided they became distinct from their South American cousins, and eventually from each other.