Oxalaia quilombensis (lat.) Is a species of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs from the spinosauridae family that lived during the Upper Cretaceous era for about 95 million years in the region of modern Brazil .
| † Oxalaia quilombensis |
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| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetric |
| Infraclass : | Archosauromorphs |
| No rank : | Archosauriformes |
| Superfamily : | † Megalosauroidea |
| Rod: | † Oxalaia Kellner et al. , 2011 |
| View: | † Oxalaia quilombensis |
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| International Scientific Name |
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Oxalaia quilombensis Kellner et al. , 2011 |
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The species was named and described in 2011 by paleontologist Alexander Kellner in collaboration with Sergio Azevedeo , Elaine Machado , Luciana Carvalho and Deise Henriques as a new species and genus.
The holotype MN 6117-V was found in layers of the Alcântara formation dating to the Cenomanian . It consists of two parts of the skull. In addition, other fragments were found, for example, MN 6119-V, which represents the left side of the upper jaw. The fossils are part of the collection of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro). Earlier, a large number of two types of spinosaurids were found in the same geological formation, the first of which corresponds to Oxalaia teeth. The second type of teeth, with smooth enamel , indicates a type that has not yet been described.
Although the remains remain fragmented, the length of the Oxalaia , according to scientists, ranged from 12 to 14 meters, and weight from 5 to 7 tons. This species is the largest theropod ever found in Brazil and one of the largest theropods in general.
A new species was placed in the subfamily Spinosaurinae of the spinosauridae family. It is the largest spinosaurd after Spinosaurus . Oxalaia is described to be more closely associated with African species than South American [1] .
