Oxalaia

Oxalaia Temporal range: Early Cenomanian, 98 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Lateral view of the cast of the fused premaxillae of Oxalaia quilombensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	†Spinosauridae
Subfamily:	†Spinosaurinae
Genus:	†Oxalaia Kellner et al., 2011
Species
†O. quilombensis Kellner et al., 2011 (type)

Oxalaia (a reference to the African deity Oxalá) is a genus of carnivorous theropod. It is a spinosaurine spinosaurid which lived during the late Cretaceous (early Cenomanian stage, about 98 mya) in what is now Brazil.

Ventral view of the cast of the fused premaxillae

Oxalaia is known from the holotype MN 6117-V, fused premaxillae of a very large individual and from the referred fragment MN 6119-V, an isolated and incomplete left maxilla, which were found on Cajual Island, Maranhão of northeastern Brazil. Fossils of Oxalaia were recovered in 2004 from the Laje do Coringa locality of the Alcântara Formation, part of the Itapecuru Group of the São Luís Basin. Besides these bone fragments, numerous spinosaurid teeth had earlier been reported from the site.^[1]

The genus was named by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner, Sergio A.K. Azevedeo, Elaine B. Machado, Luciana B. Carvalho and Deise D.R. Henriques in 2011 and the type species is Oxalaia quilombensis. The specific name quilombensis refers to the quilombo settlements, such as on Cajual Island, which were founded by escaped slaves. Estimates suggest that it was 12 to 14 metres (39 to 46 ft) in length and 5 to 7 tonnes (5.5 to 7.7 short tons) in weight —- it is the largest theropod known from Brazil and the eighth officially named species of theropod from Brazil.^[2]

References

1. Medeiros, M.A. (2006). "Large theropod teeth from the Eocenomanian of northeastern Brazil and the occurrence of Spinosauridae". Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 9: 333–338. doi:10.4072/rbp.2006.3.08.
2. Kellner, Alexander W.A.; Sergio A.K. Azevedeo; Elaine B. Machado; Luciana B. Carvalho; Deise D.R. Henriques (2011). "A new dinosaur (Theropoda, Spinosauridae) from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Alcântara Formation, Cajual Island, Brazil" (PDF). Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 83 (1): 99–108. doi:10.1590/S0001-37652011000100006. ISSN 0001-3765.