Rugops is an abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Niger. It was named in 2004 by Paul Sereno and his associates. It was a strange theropod dinosaur that has lent itself to some debate due to the texture of its skull.
Physiology[]
Similarly to most other abelisaurids, Rugops was a theropod with a stout body, moderately long legs, and a long tail, extremely small and stubby arms with 4 short, clawless fingers on each hand, a moderately long neck, and a small head with a short snout and large jaws. Its body would have been covered in bumpy, scaly skin.
Diet[]
Rugops was a predator, preying on small crocodylomorphs and smaller theropods. Its teeth were smaller than those of other abelisaurs, and were used to get a hold of struggling prey as the dinosaur swallowed them whole.
Ecology[]
Initially, Rugops was hypothesized to be a scavenger based on its supposedly fragile skull and small teeth; however, it is rare for vertebrates to mainly subsist on carrion (and those that do have strong jaws and thick teeth, both of which Rugops lacked), and there were many smaller animals for it to prey on. As well as this, the presence of small pits atop its snout was thought to indicate concentrations of blood vessels and nerves, which would lead to potential ideas about it being attached to a display structure or able to be pumped full of blood to flush bright red. [1] However, these structures may have simply correlated with thick scales similar to those of certain crocodylians and lizards. It is possible that said scales were thick and knobby enough to serve as armor, with rival males engaging in slow headbutting fights similarly to marine iguanas; while this is supported by more taxonomically derived abelisaurids such as Carnotaurus and Majungasaurus having clear adaptations for headbutting, more remains will need to be dug up in order to determine if Rugops' vertebrae were strong enough to support this behavior, since it is currently known from only a skull. [2]
In popular culture[]
Rugops was featured in the 1st episode of the 2011 documentary Planet Dinosaur, where it is shown scavenging on dead Onchopristis left behind by Spinosaurus; while it is likely that it would indeed try to feed on carcasses left behind by larger predators, it is said to have only scavenged instead of hunting for food. On a more minor note, while Rugops did live with Spinosaurus at one point, its remains are absent from the geological formation the episode focuses on.
References[]
- Sereno, P. C., Wilson, J. A., & Conrad, J. L. (2004). New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271(1546), 1325–1330. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2692
- Delcourt, R. (2018). Ceratosaur palaeobiology: New insights on evolution and ecology of the southern rulers. Scientific Reports, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28154-x