Oxalaia

Credit: Connor Ashbridge on the Wikimedia Commons.

*Oxalaia* is an extinct genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived during the in Brazil during the Late Cretaceous.

## Description

*Oxalaia* is the largest known theropod known in Brazil and South America; as well as the eighth named genus of dinosaur from Brazil. The massive theropod is estimated to grow approximately 12 to 14 meters long (39 to 46 feet) and estimated to Weight between 5 to 7.1 tons.

## History

The species name is *Oxalaia quilombensis*. The name *Oxalaia* is derived from the name of the African deity Oxalá, which was introduced into Brazil during the harsh slavery period. The specific name *quilombensis* refers to the quilombo settlements like those on Cajual Island, which were founded by escaped slaves .

The species barely known from a few extremely

fragmentary fossils; which most of them are destroyed on a fire incident at the Natural History museum of Brazil, where a fire broke out, destroying countless holotype material.  It was displayed in the main hall, the hardest hit, and there has been no suggestion of recovery.

## Paleoecology

The Late Cretaceous South America; Brazil; has been concluded as a humid habitat of tropical forests dominated by conifers, ferns, and horsetails. These forests were surrounded by an arid-to-semi-arid landscape that was probably subjected to brief periods of heavy rainfall followed by lengthy dry periods; very similar to Early to Middle Cretaceous North Africa . The biome has a great abundance and variety of animal species; such as dinosaurs, pterosaurs, snakes, molluscs, crocodilians, notosuchids, and large fish have been discovered in the formation. Known aquatic taxa known from the deposits include the large coelacanth *Mawsonia gigas*; the ray *Myliobatis*; two sclerorhynchid sawfishes; as well as several bony fish, ray-finned fish, and lungfish species.

Dinosaur fossil remains suggest the presence of diplodocoid sauropods like *Itapeuasaurus*, basal titanosaurs, a carcharodontosaurid, a noasaurid related to *Masiakasaurus*, and a dromaeosaurid. Also, characteristic teeth and a single vertebral centrum were referred to *Spinosaurus* sp..

All known evidence that's related to *Oxalaia* diet comes from the direct evidence from the directly related species; two particularly close-related spinosaurid species from the inner subgroup/family Spinosaurinae; known as *Irritator* and *Siamosaurus* indicates that the Spinosaurinae, including *Oxalaia* were much likely generalistic Carnivores, that consumed a variety of available prey items; both terrestrial animals (such as local small to medium sized dinosaurs, large pterosaurs), as well as aquatic prey items (such as largest species of Fish; species of aquatic to semi-aquatic crocodylimorphs/crocodilians).  It has been suggested that this species crossed into South America via the ocean, inspired by real hypotheses in extant taxa, but this has not been published.

## Gallery

**Credit: DeinonychusEmpire on DeviantArt.**
## References

1. ↑ https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci\_arttext&pid=S0001-37652011000100006
2. ↑ https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/august/scientists-support-restoration-of-brazils-national-museum-collections-after-fire.html
3. ↑ https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/fire-engulfs-brazil-national-museum-rio
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/TylerGreenfieId/status/1264231887192678400
5. ↑ https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-new-genus-of-dipnoiformes-from-the-Cretaceous-of-Toledo-Sousa/5d39917a27abf79e90f7873b8aae33a55a5c6653
6. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250374814\_A\_new\_sclerorhynchiform\_Elasmobranchii\_from\_the\_Middle\_Cretaceous\_of\_Brazil
7. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118302064
8. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981114000364
9. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734717/
10. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326144050\_Semi-aquatic\_adaptations\_in\_a\_spinosaur\_from\_the\_Lower\_Cretaceous\_of\_Brazil
11. ↑ https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1030036385?and\_facet\_journal=jour.1140751
12. ↑ https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Semi-aquatic-adaptations-in-a-spinosaur-from-the-of-Aureliano-Ghilardi/41f80fa81f103c0a25a0028bb8ee230659acc6a1
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/TetZoo/status/1264110023686459395