Chenanisaurus

Chenanisaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Holotype partial dentary of Chenanisaurus barbaricus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: Abelisauridae
Genus: Chenanisaurus
Longrich et al., 2017
Type species
Chenanisaurus barbaricus
Longrich et al., 2017

Chenanisaurus is a genus of predatory abelisaurid dinosaur, with a single known species C. barbaricus. It comes from the upper Maastrichtian phosphates of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco, North Africa. The animal is known from a holotype, consisting of a partial jawbone and several isolated teeth found in the same beds. Chenanisaurus is one of the largest members of the Abelisauridae and one of the last, being a contemporary of the North American Tyrannosaurus. It would have been among the dinosaur species wiped out by the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction that followed.