Majungasaurus

Mahajanga lizard

• Majunga · Malagasy (place name, Mahajanga) · Mahajanga, the province/city in Madagascar
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name refers to the Mahajanga (Majunga) Province of northwestern Madagascar, where the fossils were found, combined with the Greek word for lizard. It was originally named Majungasaurus by Lavocat in 1955 based on a tooth, and later material, including skulls, showed it to be a large abelisaurid theropod. It was formerly known as Majungatholus, a name once given to a skull thought to belong to a pachycephalosaur.

Named by

Lavocat

Year named

1955

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Basin, Madagascar

Valid genus; type species Majungasaurus crenatissimus. The junior synonym Majungatholus (Sues & Taquet, 1979) was based on a skull originally misinterpreted as a pachycephalosaur. Known for evidence of cannibalism.