Piatnitzkysaurus Pronunciation

Fun Facts

• ✓Piatnitzkysaurus is one of the oldest known tetanuran theropods ever found, placing it right at the root of the family tree that eventually led to Tyrannosaurus rex and Allosaurus.
• ✓The fossil was discovered in the Cañadón Asfalto Formation in Patagonia, a rock layer so rich in Middle Jurassic bones that scientists consider it one of South America's most important dinosaur sites.
• ✓Renowned Argentine paleontologist Jose Bonaparte described Piatnitzkysaurus in 1979, the same scientist who later described the titanosaur Saltasaurus and the strange horned ceratosaur Carnotaurus.
• ✓Two partial skeletons of Piatnitzkysaurus have been found, and together they give scientists a surprisingly detailed picture of what this predator looked like, which is rare for Middle Jurassic theropods anywhere in the world.
• ✓Because Piatnitzkysaurus lived at a time when dinosaur predators were still diversifying into new forms, studying it helps paleontologists understand the exact point in history when the tetanuran body plan, the blueprint for all later large meat-eaters, became dominant.