A new Abelisauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from São José do Rio Preto Formation, Upper Cretaceous of Brazil and comments on the Bauru Group fauna

Abelisaurid theropods are well-know from the Cretaceous of several parts of the Southern Hemisphere, including South America, Madagascar, and Africa, but also in India and Europe. Abelisaurids are high-diverse among other theropods with several cervicocephalic specializations reaching medium/large sizes. In the present contribution, we describe a new abelisaurid (<i>Thanos simonattoi</i>, gen. et sp. nov.) from the São José do Rio Preto Formation, Bauru Group, Brazil (Upper Cretaceous). <i>Thanos</i> differs from other theropods by having a well-developed keel becoming wider and deeper posteriorly on the ventral surface; two lateral small foramina separated by a relative wide wall on each lateral surface of the centrum, and well-developed and deep prezygapophyseal spinodiapophyseal fossae. The closed sutures between the axis and odontoid suggest that <i>Thanos</i> had reached a subadult/adult stage before death. <i>Thanos</i> is phylogenetically related to Brachyrostra abelisaurid. The keel on the ventral axial centrum in abelisauroids is here interpreted as a homoplastic condition that became more pronounced towards the phylogeny. The presence of well-developed keel in <i>Thanos</i> suggests that this taxon could be more derived than other abelisaurids. Finally, even though abelisaurids could reach large sizes, <i>Thanos</i> shared the environment with a larger theropod that was probably close to Megaraptora.