Wolfwalker–yeah, abelisaurs are bizarre. The group becomes steadily more bulldog-snouted until you hit Carnotaurus, which is just ridiculously short-faced. Even its sister genus, Aucasaurus, has a more pronounced muzzle. What makes abelisaurs really interesting, though, is that they decorated their skulls to an extent not seen in other theropods, and their arms were truly vestigal.

And Matt, to you mean the monograph detailing Majungasaurus’ skull anatomy? I have that one, and it’s really good.

I was also a little surprised at the split between Majungasaurus & Carnotaurus, but I can’t say as I’ve kept up with the latest in abelisaur phylogenies. It’s probably worth taking a look at Sampson & Krause’s Majungasaurus monograph to see what it has to say. And, it’d be great to see an abelisaur post–hop to it!

Thanks, Glendon—the ornamentation around the orbit is my favorite part of the sketch as well.

wolfwalker–I don’t know what the latest thinking is on the function of the shortened skulls of abelisaurs. The describers of Skorpiovenator hint at “shock-absorbing capabilities” in the abstract but don’t elaborate in the text. It would definitely be interesting to see what a stress analysis or bite force model of an abelisaur skull would reveal…

Well done, and particularly the texture and contours around the eyes. There’s a real three-dimensionality there.

This inspires me to write a post about abelisaurs!

However, one question remains: Should not the Brachyrostra include Majungatholus? That little fella has a very short snout as well.