Some 85 million years ago, “the one who frightens” roamed ancient Patagonia, delivering powerful bites to prey unlucky enough to cross its path.
Llukalkan aliocranianus was a medium-sized theropod dinosaur roughly the same shape as a Tyrannosaurus rex. The only known specimen of the ancient carnivore was discovered in November 2015 in Argentina’s Neuquen province. “It was a fortuitous case; lucky, basically,” says Federico Ghianechini, a paleontologist and biologist with the Argentina National Scientific and Technical Research Council and the first author of a study published recently in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
