A Crested Theropod Dinosaur from Antarctica

Abstract

Jurassic fossil vertebrates collected from the Falla Formation in the Central Transantarctic Mountains included a partial skull and postcranial elements of a crested theropod, Cryolophosaurus ellioti gen. nov. sp. nov. The theropod bears some resemblance to the large tetanurans of the Middle to Late Jurassic but also has primitive ceratosaurian features. Elements from a prosauropod, teeth from scavenging theropods, a pterosaur humerus, and a tritylodont molar were also recovered. The presence of this fauna suggests that a mild climate existed at high paleolatitude in this area of Gondwana during the Early Jurassic.