Superbly preserved braincase of this new species is an important find — it suggests there was a greater diversity and abundance of abelisaurids late in dinosaurs’ era than previously thought.

Around 80 million years ago as tyrannosaurs ruled the Northern Hemisphere, this lookalike was one of 10 currently known species of abelisaurids flourishing in the southern continents.

A fearsome killer, Llukalkan was «likely among the top predators» throughout Patagonia, now in Argentina, during the Late Cretaceous due to its formidable size (up to five meters long), extremely powerful bite, very sharp teeth, huge claws in their feet and their keen sense of smell.

It had a strange short skull with rough bones, so in life its head had bulges and prominences like some current reptiles such as the Gila monster or some iguanas. Its hearing was also different to other abelisaurids. The make-up of its skull suggests this was better than most of the other abelisaurids and similar to that of modern-day crocodiles.

Its full name comes from the native Mapuche for ‘one who causes fear’ — Llukalkan, and the Latin for ‘different skull’ — aliocranianus.

It lived in the same small area and period of time as another species of furileusaurian (stiff-backed lizard) abelisaurid — Viavenator exxoni — just a few million years before the end of the age of dinosaurs.

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