Ligabueino

little Ligabue

• Ligabue · Italian (surname) · Giancarlo Ligabue, Italian patron of paleontology
• -ino · Italian/Spanish · diminutive suffix, 'little'

Ligabueino honours Giancarlo Ligabue, an Italian paleontology enthusiast who supported fieldwork and research on Patagonian dinosaurs. The ending "-ino" is a diminutive, so the name means "little Ligabue". It probably alludes to the animal's very small size. The type species is Ligabueino andesi, named after the Andes.

Named by

Bonaparte

Year named

1996

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Barremian

Found in

La Amarga Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina

A very small theropod, usually regarded as a basal abelisauroid (ceratosaur). The type specimen is fragmentary and may be a juvenile, so its exact relationships are uncertain.