''Ligabueino'' (meaning "Ligabue's little one") is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of abelisauroid

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

named after its discoverer,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

Giancarlo Ligabue Giancarlo Ligabue (30 October 1931 – 25 January 2015) was an Italian paleontologist, scholar, politician and businessman. Born in Venice, Ligabue graduated in economics at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice and in Geology at la Sorbonne, an ...

. It is known only from an extremely fragmentary specimen, measuring 79 cm (2.6 ft) long, found in the

La Amarga Formation The La Amarga Formation is a geologic formation with outcrops in the Argentine provinces of Río Negro, Neuquén, and Mendoza. It is the oldest Cretaceous terrestrial formation in the Neuquén Basin. The type locality is La Amarga Arroyo and ...

. In spite of initial reports that it was an adult, the unfused vertebrae indicate that the specimen was a juvenile.Carrano, M.T., Loewen, M.A. and Sertic, J.J.W. (2011). "New Materials of Masiakasaurus knopfleri Sampson, Carrano, and Forster, 2001, and Implications for the Morphology of the Noasauridae (Theropoda: Ceratosauria). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 95: 53pp. It was a

and lived during the Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

(

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...

to early

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

), in what is now

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. Contrary to initial classifications that placed it as a member of the

Noasauridae Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed Abelisauridae, abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally simila ...

, Carrano and colleagues found in 2011 that it could only be placed with any confidence in the group Abelisauroidea. In 2024, ''Ligabueino'' was recovered as a sister taxon of Berthasauridae and

Abelisauroidea Ceratosaurs are members of the clade Ceratosauria, a group of dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestor with ''Ceratosaurus'' than with birds. The oldest known ceratosaur, ''Saltriovenator'', dates to the earliest ...

References

Ceratosauria Dinosaur genera Barremian dinosaurs La Amarga Formation Fossil taxa described in 1996 Taxa named by José Bonaparte Dinosaurs of Argentina {{theropod-stub

See also

References