Dinosaurs A to Z
Abelisauridae

Tralkasaurus cuyi

"thunder lizard"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Tralkasaurus 6 m (19.7 ft) long
as long as 4 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Tralkasaurus
Length
6 m (19.7 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
South America · Argentina
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Abelisauridae

Tralkasaurus (meaning “thunder lizard”) is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur from the Huincul Formation from Río Negro Province in Argentina. The type and only species is Tralkasaurus cuyi, named in 2020 by Mauricio Cerroni and colleagues based on an incomplete skeleton. A medium-sized abelisaurid, Tralkasaurus exhibits a conflicting blend of characteristics found among the early-diverging abelisauroids with others that characterize the highly specialized clade Brachyrostra, and thus its position within the clade is poorly-resolved.

What we know

  • Named by Cerroni et al., 2020.
  • Body length estimated at about 6 m.
  • Fossils found in South America and Argentina.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Tralkasaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.