Name:
Berthasaura
(Bertha's lizard).
Phonetic: Ber-fah-sor-ah.
Named By: Geovane Alves de Souza, Marina Bento
Soares, Luiz Carlos Weinsch�tz, Everton Wilner, Ricardo Tadeu
Lopes, Olga Maria Oliveira de Ara�jo & Alexander Wilhelm
Armin Kellner - 2021.
Classification: Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Noasauridae.
Species: B. leopoldinae
(type).
Diet: Omnivore?/Herbivore?
Size: Uncertain due to holotype being described from
an immature individual, but possibly under a meter long.
Known locations: Brazil, Paran� - Goio-Er�
Formation.
Time period: Unknown due to uncertainty of the
date of the Fossil Formation at the time of description, but
probably somewhere between the Aptian to the Campanian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and Almost
complete skeleton. Holotype is of an immature individual.
Berthasaura
seems to be a bit of a strange dinosaur as even though it has been
considered to be a noasaurid theropod dinosaur, Berthasaura
possessed
a toothless beak. The description of Berthasaura
is not actually the
first time that a noasaurid theropod has been found without teeth,
Limusaurus
is also toothless and is known from the Late Jurassic
period of China. Berthasaura however is even
further specialised with
its beak like form to its skull.
This
casts immediate uncertainty as to what Berthasaura
ate, as most other
noasaurids seem to be dedicated carnivores. If Berthasaura
was still
a carnivore, it would perhaps be more likely to have swallowed small
vertebrates like lizards whole, or picked at the carcasses of dead
animals. Berthasaura might have even taken to
herbivorous browsing,
or followed an omnivorous lifestyle, eating whatever it could get.
Only future discoveries with preserved stomach contents might be able
to give a clearer picture.
The
fossil site that Berthasaura is known from was a
desert back in the
Cretaceous.
Further reading
- The first edentulous ceratosaur from South America". Scientific
Reports. 11 (1): Article number 22281. - Geovane Alves de
Souza, Marina Bento Soares, Luiz Carlos Weinsch�tz, Everton
Wilner, Ricardo Tadeu Lopes, Olga Maria Oliveira de Ara�jo
& Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner - 2021.