Chenanisaurus
genus of reptiles
Chenanisaurus (meaning "Sidi Chennane lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Morocco. The genus belongs to the family Abelisauridae. It is known from a partial dentary (lower jawbone) and several teeth that were found in the phosphate mines of Khouribga, in rocks of the Maastrichtian-aged Ouled Abdoun Basin. Chenanisaurus was described in 2017 by British paleontologist Nicholas Longrich and colleagues. The genus contains a single species, Chenanisaurus barbaricus.
Chenanisaurus is one of few known African members of Abelisauridae. Its length is estimated to be around 7–8 m (23–26 ft), making it among the largest known abelisaurids. The dentary of Chenanisaurus is distinct in that it was deep and slightly bowed. The outer surface is ornamented with deep striations, grooves, and rugosities, as in related forms such as Majungasaurus.
Chenanisaurus was among the last non-avian dinosaurs, existing just one million years prior to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
The public source identifies “Chenanisaurus” as genus of reptiles. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chenanisaurus, genus and reptiles.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29052716. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chenanisaurus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.