''Tarascosaurus'' (" Tarasque lizard") is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Late Cretaceous of France.

Discovery

After having in 1988 identified an upper jaw bone found near

Pourcieux Pourcieux (; oc, Porcièu) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The small village provides a typical image of the Provence of Frédéric Mistral, with vine-grower's houses built ar ...

as belonging to a member of the Abelisauridae, French paleontologist Éric Buffetaut reviewed the known remains of larger theropods found in the Late Cretaceous of Europe concluding they all were of abelisaurid affinity. Most of these fossils, earlier named as '' Megalosaurus pannoniensis'', ''Megalosaurus hungaricus'' and ''Megalosaurus lonzeensis'', he considered to be ''

nomina dubia In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

'' because of the paucity of the material. However, when in the collection of the University of Lyon he discovered some theropod bones once excavated by an unknown collector at an escarpment of a place named ''Lambeau du Beausset'', in the "

syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...

of Le Beausset" (in French: ''synclinal du Beausset''), Buffetaut and

Jean Le Loeuff Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

named and described these in 1991 as the type species ''Tarascosaurus salluvicus''. The generic name is derived from the '' Tarasque'' or ''Tarasca'', a devouring monster from

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

and Spanish folklore. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

refers to the

Salluvii The Salyes or Salluvii (Greek: ) were an ancient Celto-Ligurian people dwelling between the Durance river and the Greek colony of Massalia during the Iron Age. Although earlier writers called them 'Ligurian', Strabo used the denomination 'Celto-lig ...

, a Gallic tribe in

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

inhabiting the area near

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

.Jean Le Loeuff and Éric Buffetaut (1991). "''Tarascosaurus salluvicus nov. gen., nov. sp.'',dinosaure théropode du Crétacé supérieur du Sud de la France" - ("''Tarascosaurus salluvicus nov. gen., nov. sp.'', a theropod dinosaur from the upper Cretaceous of Southern France"). ''Geobios'', 24(5): 585-594 The holotype PSL 330201 was found in the Fuvelian Beds, dating from the lower Campanian. It consists of the upper part of a thigh bone, long. PSL 330202, consisting of two

dorsal vertebra In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebrae and they are intermediate in size between the cervical ...

e, was made a paratype; these bones may belong to the same individual. Referred was PSL 330203, a damaged tail vertebra. The femur, with an undamaged length estimated at , indicates a body length of two and a half to three metres. Some fossils from Spain were also referred to the genus, such as specimen FSL 330202, which was estimated to be 3.1 meters long, 90 kg, and 98 cm high at the hips, making ''Tarascosaurus'' one of the smallest abelisaurids. In 2003

Oliver Rauhut Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver, ...

concluded that ''Tarascosaurus'' itself was also a ''nomen dubium'' because the material was not diagnostic. ''Tarascosaurus'' was placed in the Abelisauridae in 1991. It was then seen as the only known abelisaurid from the

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apart from '' Betasuchus'' of the Maastrichtian of the Netherlands. However, in 2003

Ronan Allain {{Short pages monitor