PREDATORY DINOSAUR REMAINS FROM MADAGASCAR - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CRETACEOUS BIOGEOGRAPHY OF GONDWANA

Recent discoveries of fossil vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous of M adagascar include several specimens of a large theropod dinosaur. One specimen includes a nearly complete and exquisitely preserved skull wi th thickened pneumatic nasals, a median frontal horn, and a dorsal pro jection on the parietals. The new materials are assigned to the enigma tic theropod group Abelisauridae on the basis of a number of unique fe atures. Fossil remains attributable to abelisaurids are restricted to three Gondwanan landmasses: South America, Madagascar, and the Indian subcontinent. This distribution is consistent with a revised paleogeog raphic reconstruction that posits prolonged links between these landma sses (via Antarctica), perhaps until late in the Late Cretaceous.