Caletodraco cottardi, a new abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Normandy, northern France

[VD231991]

A new European theropod-related paper:

Buffetaut, E., Tong, H., Girard, J., Hoyez, B., and Párraga, J., 2024. Caletodraco cottardi: A New Furileusaurian Abelisaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian Chalk of Normandy (North-Western France). Fossil Studies 2 (3): 177–195. doi:10.3390/fossils2030009.

Caletodraco is the first non-avian theropod dinosaur to be described from Cenomanian-aged chalky deposits in western Europe (e.g. famous White Cliffs of Dover), considering that only a few non-avian dinosaur taxa have been described from Cenomanian-age chalky deposits in southeastern England and northern France.

[Faelrin]

Is this actually the first abelisaurid from Europe or am I forgetting any?

Remains are scrappy (to be expected I suppose), but great to one of these dinosaurs found in France.

[Torvosaurus]

I believe Genusaurus and Tarascosaurus also came from France. I believe at least one more came from Europe as well, but I'm not positive on that.

Torvo

Edit: It was Arcovenator.

[EmperorDinobot]

Most importantly, what is a furilesaur? I feel like I've missed years of reading.

[CharlieNovember]

Caletodraco Cottardi is an important discovery as it represents the first definitive valid species of furileusaurian (clade of the family of Abelisauridae) named from outside of South America, ie in Europe and more specifically in Northern France. It was named after the French "amateur" paleontologist Nicolas Cottard who found the remains, alongside the tooth of a prehistoric shark. Apparently, further investigations are expected for next year ?...
I copy/paste in case the link to the paper of Buffetaut and his team :
https://www.mdpi.com/2813-6284/2/3/9