Rugops
(Genus)Rugops (meaning "wrinkle face") is a genus of theropod dinosaur which inhabited what is now Africa approximately 95 million years ago. The discovery of a Rugops skull in Niger in 2000 was a crucial breakthrough in the understanding of the evolution of theropods in that area, and demonstrates that this landmass was still united with Gondwana at that stage in history.
At 7 - 9 m (24 - 30 ft) long and 2.5 m (8 ft) high at the hip, Rugops was a medium-sized carnivore. The skull bore armour or scales, and other bones had many blood vessels, causing Dr. Paul Sereno, who led the team that discovered the fossil, to say, "It's not the kind of head designed for fighting or bone-crushing", suggesting that it may have been a scavenger. The skull also bears two rows of seven holes each, of unknown purpose, although Sereno has speculated that they may have anchored some kind of crest or horns.
Like other abelisaurs, Rugops probably had very short arms.These were probably useless in fighting. They may have only been balance tools, items to counterbalance the dinosaur's head.
The type species is R. primus (meaning "first wrinkle-face"). Rugops is believed to be an abelisaurid, or closely related, and is related to Majungasaurus.
Map
Taxonomy
The Genus Rugops is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1 species and subspecies in the Genus Rugops: R. primus
References
- Project Exploration on Rugops *Project Exploration news on Rugops
- Chicago Park District press release on Rugops, PDF format
- Sereno's speculation from "Science in Africa",
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It includes material from Wikipedia retrieved Monday, May 26, 2008.
- The distribution map on this page comes from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and is used with permission.
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