Masiakasaurus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Masiakasaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Masiakasaurus skull at the Field Museum of Natural History | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Infraorder: | Ceratosauria |
| Superfamily: | Abelisauroidea |
| Family: | Noasauridae |
| Genus: | Masiakasaurus |
| Binomial name | |
| Masiakasaurus knopfleri Sampson et al., 2001 |
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Masiakasaurus was a small predatory theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Its a small, bipedal, meat-eating dinosaur that had forward-pointing teeth, a long neck, and a long tail. It was about the size of a really big dog.
The species name Masiakasurus knopfleri, was named for Mark Knopfler, a guitarist and singer from the rock band Dire Straits. The paleontologists who discovered this dinosaur were listening to Knopfler's music when they found and dug up Masiakasaurus.
