Xenotarsosaurus Characteristics

Xenotarsosaurus measured 25 feet in length, 13 feet in height and weighed around 1 ton. Not much is known about this dinosaur, the facts are based on comparison to dinosaurs with similar fossils. Xenotarsosaurus was a medium sized dinosaur that was bipedal and walked on its 2 strong hind legs. It had a huge head and rows of large, sharp teeth. It had a long, stiff tail that was used as a counter-balance and very short fore limbs. Its hands and feet were well equipped with sharp claws. The skull of these dinosaurs was as tall as they were long, with unique features in the bone that included grooves and pits. The ankle bones of this dinosaur was different then other theropods in that they were fused together, a feature of the abelisaurids.

Xenotarsosaurus was a carnivore and would have terrorized huge plant eaters living at the same time. It was a predatory hunter and would have had a large brain with high intelligence, being smarter than the huge sauropods but less intelligent than smaller carnivorous raptors. As they had long, powerful legs, it would have been a fast dinosaur, capable of taking long strides and would have had no problem keeping up with its prey.

As Xenotarsosaurus lived during the late cretaceous, it would have probably met its fate with all the other dinosaurs that shared its landscape in the massive cretaceous extinction event.

Xenotarsosaurus is known from only a few fossilized vertebrae and hind leg bones retrieved from the Bajo Barreal Formation, Chubut, Argentina.

Xenotarsosaurus was described by Martinez, Gimenez, Rodriguez and Bochatey in 1987. The type species is X. bonapartei.