| Piatnitzkysaurus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic |
|
|---|---|
| Skeleton cast in Argentina | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| (unranked): | Tetanurae |
| Superfamily: | Megalosauroidea[1] |
| Genus: | Piatnitzkysaurus |
| Species: | P. floresi |
| Binomial name | |
| Piatnitzkysaurus floresi Bonaparte, 1979 |
|
Piatnitzkysaurus (named to honor Alejandro Mateievich Piatnitzky (1879-1959), Russian-born Argentine geologist) is a genus of theropod dinosaur. It is known from the Canadon Asfalto Formation, Middle Jurassic (Callovian stage) of what is now Argentina. Once thought to be a basal carnosaur,[2] it may instead be a megalosauroid.[1] Partial skeletons are known (two fractured skulls and parts of the postcranial skeleton) and show Piatnitzkysaurus was a lightly built medium-sized bipedal carnivore with robust arms around 4.3 metres (14 ft) long and around 450 kilograms (990 lb) in mass, though such estimates apply to the holotype, which is a subadult.[3] Its ischium is 423 millimetres (16.7 in) long.[4] Its braincase resembles that of another megalosauroid, the megalosaurid Piveteausaurus from France.[5]
The type species, Piatnitzkysaurus floresi, was described by Jose Bonaparte in 1979.