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112-598: Majungasaurus ( / m ə ˌ dʒ ʌ ŋ ɡ ə ˈ s ɔː r ə s / ; lit.   ' Mahajanga lizard ' ) is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in Madagascar from 70 to 66 million years ago , at the end of the Cretaceous Period , making it one of the last-known non-avian dinosaurs that went extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event . The genus contains

224-621: A Comorian socialist revolutionary and political figure who served as the Dictator of the State of the Comoros from 3 January 1976 to 13 May 1978. The stadium Jacques Rabemananjara, with its 8,000 places, is the 5th largest in the country. Mahajanga has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen Aw ) with two distinct seasons: a humid, rainy wet season from November to mid-April, and a sunny, less humid and practically bone-dry dry season for

336-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

448-469: A close relationship with Carnotaurus from South America, while others were unable to firmly place it in the phylogeny . The most recent analysis, using the most complete information, instead recovered Majungasaurus in a clade with Rajasaurus and Indosaurus from India, but excluding South American genera like Carnotaurus , Ilokelesia , Ekrixinatosaurus , Aucasaurus and Abelisaurus , as well as Rugops from mainland Africa. This leaves open

560-399: A dome-shaped swelling nearly identical to the one described by Sues and Taquet as Majungatholus atopus . Majungatholus was redescribed as an abelisaurid rather than a pachycephalosaur in 1998. Although the name Majungasaurus crenatissimus was older than Majungatholus atopus , the authors judged the type dentary of Majungasaurus too fragmentary to confidently assign to the same species as

672-567: A dozen ports were identified in northern Madagascar by the late fifteenth century by the Arab geographer Ibn Mājid...By the early eighteenth century, Andriamandisoarivo, with the support of his eight-hundred-man army, founded a new Sakalava dynasty in the north which he named Volamena, meaning red money or gold. His descendants were known as the Zafibolamena, children of the Volamena. He died in

784-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

896-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

1008-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

1120-407: A high degree of flexibility in the lower jaw, although not to the extent seen in snakes . This may have been an adaptation to prevent the fracture of the lower jaw when holding onto a struggling prey animal. The front teeth of the upper jaw were more robust than the rest, to provide an anchor point for the bite, while the low crown height of Majungasaurus teeth prevented them from breaking off during

1232-636: A result of the harsh environment in which it lived. However, other abelisaurids have also been found to have comparably slow growth rates. All specimens of Majungasaurus have been recovered from the Maevarano Formation in the Mahajanga Province in northwestern Madagascar. Most of these, including all of the most complete material, came from the Anembalemba Member, although Majungasaurus teeth have also been found in

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1344-543: A single species , Majungasaurus crenatissimus . This dinosaur is also called Majungatholus , a name which is considered a junior synonym of Majungasaurus . Like other abelisaurids, Majungasaurus was a bipedal predator with a short snout. Although the forelimbs are not completely known, they were very short, while the hind limbs were longer and very stocky. Measuring around 7 m (23 ft) long and weighing more than 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), it can be distinguished from other abelisaurids by its wider skull ,

1456-584: A site of important meetings, and, in the 19th century, as a site for executions . It is said that to honor the Malagasy ancestors, anyone who visits it must walk around it seven times. According to Jane Hooper, "Since the tenth century, ports in the north of Madagascar, home to an Islamized population, had attracted merchants and migrants from East Africa, the Middle East, and even the Far East. At least

1568-420: A small flocculus, did not rely on quick head movements to sight and capture prey. Inferences about behavior can also be drawn from examination of the inner ear. The semicircular canals within the inner ear aid in balance, and the lateral semicircular canal is usually parallel to the ground when the animal holds its head in an alert posture. When the skull of Majungasaurus is rotated so that its lateral canal

1680-420: A solid bony mass. There is no sign of any other vertebrae after the fifth in the series, indicating that the tail ended there prematurely. From the size of the last vertebrae, scientists judged that about ten vertebrae were lost. One explanation for this pathology is severe physical trauma resulting in the loss of the tail tip, followed by osteomyelitis (infection) of the last remaining vertebrae. Alternatively,

1792-401: A struggle. Finally, unlike the teeth of Allosaurus and most other theropods, which were curved on both the front and back, abelisaurids like Majungasaurus had teeth curved on the front edge but straighter on the back (cutting) edge. This structure may have served to prevent slicing, and instead holding the teeth in place when biting. Examination of the teeth of Majungasaurus indicates that

1904-442: A “purser authorized to carry trade on in the king’s name, in conjunction with another purser that comes down from the king.” Sakalava kings and queens even allowed visiting European merchants to trade with local Muslim merchants as well as with Sakalava representatives and appeared to be increasingly tapped into these networks crossing the southwestern Indian Ocean region. A Sakalava queen married an East African (or Comorian) man around

2016-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

2128-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

2240-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

2352-578: Is direct evidence of cannibalism . French paleontologist Charles Depéret described the first theropod remains from northwestern Madagascar in 1896. These included two teeth, a claw, and some vertebrae discovered along the Betsiboka River by a French army officer and deposited in the collection of what is now the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 . Depéret referred these fossils to the genus Megalosaurus , which at

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2464-472: Is parallel to the ground, the entire skull is nearly horizontal. This contrasts with many other theropods, where the head was more strongly downturned when in the alert position. The lateral canal is also significantly longer in Majungasaurus than in its more basal relative Ceratosaurus , indicating a greater sensitivity to side-to-side motions of the head. A 2007 report described pathologies in

2576-453: Is perhaps most distinctive for its skull ornamentation, including the swollen and fused nasals and the frontal horn. Other ceratosaurs, including Carnotaurus , Rajasaurus , and Ceratosaurus itself bore crests on the head. These structures are likely to have played a role in intraspecific competition , although their exact function within that context is unknown. The hollow cavity inside the frontal horn of Majungasaurus would have weakened

2688-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

2800-526: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2912-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

3024-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

3136-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

3248-588: The ICZN . Majungasaurus was a medium-sized theropod that typically reached 5.6–7 m (18–23 ft) in length and weighed 750–1,100 kg (1,650–2,430 lb). Fragmentary remains of larger individuals indicate that some adults could have been similar in size to its relative Carnotaurus , possibly exceeding 8 m (26 ft) in length. The skull of Majungasaurus is exceptionally well known compared to most theropods and generally similar to that of other abelisaurids. Like other abelisaurid skulls, its length

3360-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

3472-834: The State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Antananarivo began the Mahajanga Basin Project, a series of expeditions to examine the fossils and geology of the Late Cretaceous sediments near the village of Berivotra, in Mahajanga Province. Among these scientists was paleontologist David W. Krause of Stony Brook. The first expedition turned up hundreds of theropod teeth identical to those of Majungasaurus , some of which were attached to an isolated premaxilla that

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3584-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

3696-565: The pelvis and the tip of the tail are still unknown. This fieldwork culminated in a 2007 monograph consisting of seven scientific papers on all aspects of the animal's biology, published in the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoirs . The papers are in English, although each has an abstract written in Malagasy . In this volume, the dentary described by Lavocat was re-evaluated and determined to be diagnostic for this species. Therefore,

3808-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

3920-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

4032-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

4144-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4256-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

4368-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

4480-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

4592-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

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4704-611: The animal's center of gravity. Thus Majungasaurus may have sacrificed speed for power. Majungasaurus tooth marks on Rapetosaurus bones confirm that it at least fed on these sauropods, whether or not it actually killed them. Although sauropods may have been the prey of choice for Majungasaurus , discoveries published in 2007 detail finds in Madagascar that indicate the presence of other Majungasaurus in their diet. Numerous bones of Majungasaurus have been discovered bearing tooth marks identical to those found on sauropod bones from

4816-475: The best-studied theropod dinosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere . It appears to be most closely related to abelisaurids from India rather than South America or continental Africa, a fact that has important biogeographical implications. Majungasaurus was the apex predator in its ecosystem , mainly preying on sauropods like Rapetosaurus , and is also one of the few dinosaurs for which there

4928-462: The body is never mixed with exhaled air laden with carbon dioxide . This method of respiration, while complicated, is highly efficient. The recognition of pneumatic foramina in Majungasaurus , besides providing an understanding of its respiratory biology, also has larger-scale implications for evolutionary biology. The split between the ceratosaur line, which led to Majungasaurus , and the tetanuran line, to which birds belong, occurred very early in

5040-448: The bones of Majungasaurus . Scientists examined the remains of at least 21 individuals and discovered four with noticeable pathologies. While pathology had been studied in large tetanuran theropods like allosaurids and tyrannosaurids , this was the first time an abelisauroid had been examined in this manner. No wounds were found on any skull elements, in contrast to tyrannosaurids where sometimes gruesome facial bites were common. One of

5152-479: The brain was very small relative to body size, but otherwise similar to many other non- coelurosaurian theropods, with a very conservative form closer to modern crocodilians than to birds. One difference between Majungasaurus and other theropods was its smaller flocculus , a region of the cerebellum that helps to coordinate movements of the eye with movements of the head. This suggests that Majungasaurus and other abelisaurids like Indosaurus , which also had

5264-682: The cervical ribs, giving them a forked appearance, as seen in Carnotaurus . All of these features resulted in a very strong and muscular neck . Uniquely, the cervical ribs of Majungasaurus had long depressions along the sides for weight reduction. The humerus (upper arm bone) was short and curved, closely resembling those of Aucasaurus and Carnotaurus . Also like related dinosaurs, Majungasaurus had very short forelimbs with four extremely reduced digits, first reported with only two very short external fingers and no claws. The hand and finger bones of Majungasaurus , like other majungasaurines, lacked

5376-412: The characteristic pits and grooves where claws and tendons would normally attach, and its finger bones were fused together, indicating that the hand was immobile. In 2012, a better specimen was described, showing that the lower arm was robust, though short, and that the hand contained four metatarsals and four, probably inflexible and very reduced, fingers, possibly with no claws. The minimum phalanx formula

5488-484: The contemporaneous marine environment. Besides Majungasaurus , fossil taxa recovered from the Maevarano include fish , frogs , lizards, snakes, seven distinct species of crocodylomorphs , five or six species of mammals , Vorona and several other birds, the possibly flighted dromaeosaurid Rahonavis , the noasaurid Masiakasaurus and two titanosaurian sauropods, including Rapetosaurus . Majungasaurus

5600-468: The country, making them 21% of the total foreign population and the second-largest foreign population, after the French. Following the nationalisation of private businesses in the 1970s, many of them were compelled to leave; those who remained were largely uneducated, but stayed on and gradually built their businesses. By 2000, they were generally believed to control 50-60% of the country's economy, making them

5712-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

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5824-618: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

5936-565: The etymology of the word "Mahajanga" may be Indic. Confusion arose over their legal status; they often declared themselves to be Malagasy subjects to evade the laws against slave-holding or the building of stone houses, both forbidden to British subjects. Their dhows, which they used to transport goods to and from the African mainland, flew French flags. Initial arrivals were mainly Muslim Khojas , Ismailis and Da'udi Bohras , with some Hindus settling later. The 1911 census found 4,480 Indians in

6048-515: The evacuation of the Comorian minority living there. Mahajanga is also the seat of a Roman Catholic Diocese (Cathedral of the Holy Heart of Mary). The African baobab tree near the coast is the largest specimen in Madagascar, having a circumference of 21 metres (69 ft), and is the symbol of the city. Its age is unknown, but it is usually said to be 700–800 years old. It was once used as

6160-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

6272-460: The ground. Majungasaurus is classified as a member of the theropod clade Abelisauridae, which is considered a family in Linnaean taxonomy . Along with the family Noasauridae , abelisaurids are included in the superfamily Abelisauroidea , which is in turn a subdivision of the infraorder Ceratosauria . Abelisaurids are known for their tall skulls with blunt snouts, extensive sculpturing on

6384-578: The head and neck for a bite-and-hold type of attack might have been very useful against sauropods, which would have been tremendously powerful animals. This hypothesis may also be supported by the hindlegs of Majungasaurus , which were short and stocky, as opposed to the longer and more slender legs of most other theropods. While Majungasaurus would not have moved as fast as other similar-sized theropods, it would have had no trouble keeping up with slow-moving sauropods. The robust hindlimb bones suggest very powerful legs, and their shorter length would have lowered

6496-429: The history of theropods. The avian respiratory system, present in both lines, must therefore have evolved before the split, and well before the evolution of birds themselves. This provides further evidence of the dinosaurian origin of birds . Computed tomography , also known as CT scanning, of a complete Majungasaurus skull (FMNH PR 2100) allowed a rough reconstruction of its brain and inner ear structure. Overall,

6608-401: The infection may have come first and led to the end of the tail becoming necrotic and falling off. This is the first example of tail truncation known in a non-avian theropod dinosaur. The small number of specimens preserved with pathologies in Majungasaurus suggest that the multitude of injuries that occurred were obtained over the course of the lives of the individuals studied. Furthermore,

6720-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

6832-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

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6944-482: The likelihood of additional maladies and injuries due to functional impairment or compromised immune systems in individuals once an initial injury had occurred. Majungasaurus , being known from many well-preserved specimens of different ages, is well studied in regards to its growth and development. Throughout ontogeny, the skull of Majungasaurus (more specifically, the jugal , postorbital , and quadratojugal ) seems to have become taller and more robust; additionally,

7056-415: The limited water depth at the wharf, only small ships can call at the terminal. Deeper-draft ships anchor off the terminal and transfer cargo to and from barges, which move it to and from the terminal. Severe storms during December 2006 damaged the bulkhead, allowing water to flow in and wash backfill out from under the terminal's paving blocks. The resulting collapse of pavement blocks has made operations at

7168-640: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

7280-580: The middle of the eighteenth century, according to English and Dutch reports. Sakalava kings and queens also incorporated Islamic beliefs and rituals into their practice of divine kingship and some converted to Islam by the early nineteenth century." In the 1780s, a community of roughly 200 Muslim traders from the Indian Subcontinent had formed at Mahajanga at the mouth of the Betsiboka River, according to French traveler Dumaine. Thus,

7392-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

7504-417: The name Majungatholus was replaced by the older name Majungasaurus . Although the monograph is comprehensive, the editors noted that it describes only material recovered from 1993 through 2001. A significant quantity of specimens, some very complete, were excavated in 2003 and 2005 and await preparation and description in future publications. The dentary was made the neotype specimen after a 2009 petition to

7616-451: The neck vertebrae and ribs are hollowed out by the cervical air sac, the upper back vertebrae by the lung , and the lower back and sacral (hip) vertebrae by the abdominal air sac. Similar features in Majungasaurus vertebrae imply the presence of these air sacs. These air sacs may have allowed for a basic form of avian-style 'flow-through ventilation,' where air flow through the lungs is one-way, so that oxygen -rich air inhaled from outside

7728-473: The new genus Majungasaurus , using an older spelling of Mahajanga as well as the Greek word σαυρος sauros (meaning "lizard"). Hans-Dieter Sues and Philippe Taquet described a dome-shaped skull fragment (MNHN.MAJ 4) as a new genus of pachycephalosaur ( Majungatholus atopus ) in 1979. This was the first report of a pachycephalosaur in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1993, scientists from

7840-647: The next 100 years, many of which were deposited in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris . In 1955, René Lavocat described a theropod dentary ( MNHN .MAJ 1) with teeth from the Maevarano Formation in the same region where the original material was found. The teeth matched those first described by Depéret, but the strongly curved jaw bone was very different from both Megalosaurus and Dryptosaurus . Based on this dentary, Lavocat created

7952-406: The northern city of Bezavo around 1710, having cemented his name in traditions as the founder of a powerful new kingdom. His kingdom contained the port of Mazalagem Nova, or Massaliege, already a prosperous center for trade, as well as the new ports of Boina and Mahajanga (Majunga)...One English captain described the northwestern town of Mahajanga as a bustling, cosmopolitan port in 1764. He wrote that

8064-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

8176-536: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

8288-616: The occurrence of periodic debris flows through these channels at the beginning of the wet season, burying the carcasses of organisms killed during the preceding dry season and providing for their exceptional preservation as fossils. Sea levels in the area were rising throughout the Maastrichtian, and would continue to do so into the Paleocene Epoch , so Majungasaurus may have roamed coastal environments like tidal flats as well. The neighboring Berivotra Formation represents

8400-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

8512-465: The only other abelisaurid genera for which complete skeletal material is known. Majungasaurus was bipedal, with a long tail to balance out the head and torso, putting the center of gravity over the hips. Although the cervical ( neck ) vertebrae had numerous cavities and excavations ( pleurocoels ) to reduce their weight, they were robust, with exaggerated muscle attachment sites and ribs that interlocked for strength. Ossified tendons attached to

8624-469: The ossification of a ligament running either between the neural spines ( interspinal ligament ) or along their tops ( supraspinal ligament ). The most serious pathology discovered was in a series of five large tail vertebrae. The first two vertebrae showed only minor abnormalities with the exception of a large groove that extended along the left side of both bones. However, the next three vertebrae were completely fused together at many different points, forming

8736-486: The ossification was not determined. Hypervitaminosis A and bone spurs were ruled out, and an osteoma (benign bone tumor) was deemed unlikely. Another specimen, a small caudal (tail) vertebra, was also found to have an abnormal growth, this time on the top of its neural spine , which projects upwards from the vertebrae, allowing muscle attachment. Similar growths from the neural spine have been found in specimens of Allosaurus and Masiakasaurus , probably resulting from

8848-410: The outer surfaces of the facial bones ( convergent with carcharodontosaurids ), very reduced ( atrophied ) forelimbs (convergent with tyrannosaurids ), and stocky hindlimb proportions, among other features. As with many dinosaur families, the systematics ( evolutionary relationships) within the family Abelisauridae are confused. Several cladistic studies have indicated that Majungasaurus shares

8960-527: The outside faces of the skull bones, and Majungasaurus was no exception. This was carried to an extreme on the nasal bones of Majungasaurus , which were extremely thick and fused together, with a low central ridge running along the half of the bone closest to the nostrils. A distinctive dome-like horn protruded from the fused frontal bones on top of the skull as well. In life, these structures would have been covered with some sort of integument , possibly made of keratin . Computed tomography (CT scanning) of

9072-441: The possibility of separate clades of abelisaurids in western and eastern Gondwana . A cladogram by Tortosa et al. 2013 places Majungasaurus in a new subfamily, Majungasaurinae . A simplified version showing the taxa within the group is shown below. Pourcieux abelisaurid Arcovenator [REDACTED] Majungasaurus [REDACTED] Indosaurus Rahiolisaurus Rajasaurus [REDACTED] Majungasaurus

9184-414: The prey is subdued. Majungasaurus had an even broader snout than other abelisaurids, and other aspects of its anatomy may also support the bite-and-hold hypothesis. The neck was strengthened, with robust vertebrae, interlocking ribs and ossified tendons, as well as reinforced muscle attachment sites on the vertebrae and the back of the skull. These muscles would have been able to hold the head steady despite

9296-465: The remaining six-and-a-half months. Cyclones can occur during the wet season, producing very heavy rain and extensive erosion. The University of Mahajanga is located in Ambondrona campus. French schools: Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

9408-462: The remains of their rivals, which may suggest similar behavior in Majungasaurus and other theropods. Scientists have reconstructed the respiratory system of Majungasaurus based on a superbly preserved series of vertebrae ( UA 8678) recovered from the Maevarano Formation. Most of these vertebrae and some of the ribs contained cavities (pneumatic foramina ) that may have resulted from the infiltration of avian -style lungs and air sacs . In birds,

9520-479: The same localities. These marks have the same spacing as teeth in Majungasaurus jaws, are of the same size as Majungasaurus teeth, and contain smaller notches consistent with the serrations on those teeth. As Majungasaurus is the only large theropod known from the area, the simplest explanation is that it was feeding on other members of its own species. Suggestions that the Triassic Coelophysis

9632-416: The skull bones became more fused and the eye sockets became proportionally smaller. This indicates a shift in dietary preferences between juveniles and adults. Research by Michael D'Emic et al indicates that it was among the slowest-growing theropods. Based on studies of the lines of arrested growth in several bones, it was found that Majungasaurus took twenty years to reach maturity, which may have been

9744-476: The skull shows that both the nasal structure and the frontal horn contained hollow sinus cavities, perhaps to reduce weight. The teeth were typical of abelisaurids in having short crowns , although Majungasaurus bore seventeen teeth in both the maxilla of the upper jaw and the dentary of the lower jaw, more than in any other abelisaurid except Rugops . The postcranial skeleton of Majungasaurus closely resembles those of Carnotaurus and Aucasaurus ,

9856-402: The skull. Further fieldwork over the next decade turned up a series of less complete skulls, as well as dozens of partial skeletons of individuals ranging from juveniles to adults. Project members also collected hundreds of isolated bones and thousands of shed Majungasaurus teeth. Taken together, these remains represent nearly all the bones of the skeleton, although most of the forelimbs, most of

9968-410: The small number of injured Majungasaurus specimens observed amongst those recovered indicates most well preserved individuals generally lack observable pathologies, while a few select individuals were shown to have possessed multiple pathologies, a general pattern also noted in other large, nonavian theropods. Such patterns may be the result of a snowball effect where one injury or an infection increased

10080-404: The specimens was a phalanx (toe bone) of the foot, which had apparently been broken and subsequently healed. Most of the pathologies occurred on the vertebrae. For example, a dorsal (back) vertebra from a juvenile animal showed an exostosis (bony growth) on its underside. The growth probably resulted from the conversion of cartilage or a ligament to bone during development, but the cause of

10192-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

10304-633: The structure and probably precluded its use in direct physical combat, although the horn may have served a display purpose. While there is variation in the ornamentation of Majungasaurus individuals, there is no evidence for sexual dimorphism . Scientists have suggested that the unique skull shape of Majungasaurus and other abelisaurids indicate different predatory habits than other theropods. Whereas most theropods were characterized by long, low skulls of narrow width, abelisaurid skulls were taller and wider, and often shorter in length as well. The narrow skulls of other theropods were well equipped to withstand

10416-486: The struggles of its prey. Abelisaurid skulls were also strengthened in many areas by bone mineralized out of the skin , creating the characteristic rough texture of the bones. This is particularly true of Majungasaurus , where the nasal bones were fused and thickened for strength. On the other hand, the lower jaw of Majungasaurus sported a large fenestra (opening) on each side, as seen in other ceratosaurs, as well as synovial joints between certain bones that allowed

10528-579: The target of demonstrators during periods of unrest. In December 2006, a cyclone hit Mahajanga, causing significant damage to the port facilities and to some buildings on or near the coast. The city has an airfield which the British used to station Shackleton aircraft to support the Beira Patrol from May 1966. Mahajanga is the capital city of the Boeny Region. Ali Soilih (1937 – 1978)

10640-457: The terminal less efficient and reduced the storage space available. The largest and most valuable containerized export is frozen shrimp. There is an international airport with regional flights to the Comoros and Mayotte . Mahajanga is on the Betsiboka River , which then leads to Bombetoka Bay . The city has a sizable Muslim population. In 1977, it was the scene of ethnic unrest, forcing

10752-516: The theropod replaced its teeth anywhere from 2 to 13 times faster than other theropods, replacing the entire set within a span of two months. Gnawing on bone may have been a significant reason for such rapid tooth replacement. Majungasaurus was the largest predator in its environment, while the only known large herbivores at the time were sauropods like Rapetosaurus . Scientists have suggested that Majungasaurus , and perhaps other abelisaurids, specialized on hunting sauropods. Adaptations to strengthen

10864-612: The time was a wastebasket taxon containing any number of unrelated large theropods, as the new species M. crenatissimus . This name is derived from the Latin word crenatus ("notched") and the suffix -issimus ("most"), in reference to the numerous serrations on both front and rear edges of the teeth. Depéret later reassigned the species to the North American genus Dryptosaurus , another poorly known taxon. Numerous fragmentary remains from Mahajanga Province in northwestern Madagascar were recovered by French collectors over

10976-581: The town, built “after the Indian fashion,” contained many stone buildings and mosques. Inhabited by “native” Muslims and others from “Surate, Johana, Mosembeck, and the Commoro islands,” Mahajanga was clearly a prosperous and cosmopolitan port. Within the city, the Sakalava rulers allowed Muslims to practice their religion freely. In return, the Sakalava instituted a series of trading controls. The king appointed

11088-509: The underlying Masorobe Member and the overlying Miadana Member. While these sediments have not been dated radiometrically , evidence from biostratigraphy and paleomagnetism suggest that they were deposited during the Maastrichtian stage , which lasted from 70 to 66 Ma (million years ago). Majungasaurus teeth are found up until the very end of the Maastrichtian, when all non-avian dinosaurs became extinct . Then as now, Madagascar

11200-498: The vertical stress of a powerful bite, but not as good at withstanding torsion (twisting). In comparison to modern mammalian predators , most theropods may have used a strategy similar in some ways to that of long- and narrow-snouted canids , with the delivery of many bites weakening the prey animal. Abelisaurids, especially Majungasaurus , may instead have been adapted for a feeding strategy more similar to modern felids , with short and broad snouts, that bite once and hold on until

11312-556: The very rough texture and thickened bone on the top of its snout, and the single rounded horn on the roof of its skull, which was originally mistaken for the dome of a pachycephalosaur . It also had more teeth in both upper and lower jaws than most abelisaurids. The genus is one of the first abelisaurs to be discovered, first being found in 1896 (although it was thought to be a species of Megalosaurus ) and being named in 1955. Known from several well-preserved skulls and abundant skeletal material, Majungasaurus has recently become one of

11424-402: Was 1-2-1-1. Like other abelisaurids, the hindlimbs were stocky and short compared to body length. The tibia (lower leg bone) of Majungasaurus was even stockier than that of its relative Carnotaurus , with a prominent crest on the knee. The astragalus and calcaneum (ankle bones) were fused together, and the feet bore three functional digits, with a smaller first digit that did not contact

11536-516: Was a cannibal have been recently disproven, leaving Majungasaurus as the only non-avian theropod with confirmed cannibalistic tendencies, although there is some evidence that cannibalism may have occurred in other species as well. It is unknown if Majungasaurus actively hunted their own kind or only scavenged their carcasses. However, some researchers have noted that modern Komodo monitors sometimes kill each other when competing for access to carcasses. The lizards will then proceed to cannibalize

11648-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

11760-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

11872-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

11984-490: Was an island, having separated from the Indian subcontinent less than 20 million years earlier. It was drifting northwards but still 10 to 15 degrees more southerly in latitude than it is today. The prevailing climate of the time was semi-arid, with pronounced seasonality in temperature and rainfall. Majungasaurus inhabited a coastal flood plain cut by many sandy river channels . Strong geological evidence suggests

12096-518: Was by far the largest carnivore and probably the dominant predator on land, although large crocodylomorphs like Mahajangasuchus and Trematochampsa might have competed with it closer to water. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Mahajanga Mahajanga is a seaport , the second most important one in Madagascar after Toamasina . The marine terminal accommodates containerships and small (150 gross ton) general cargo freighters. Because of

12208-454: Was described in 1996. The following seven expeditions would turn up tens of thousands of fossils, many of which belonged to species new to science. The Mahajanga Basin Project claims credit for quintupling the known diversity of fossil taxa in the region. Fieldwork in 1996 turned up a spectacularly complete theropod skull preserved in exquisite detail ( FMNH PR 2100). On top of this skull was

12320-427: Was proportionally short for its height, although not as short as in Carnotaurus . The skulls of large individuals measured 60–70 centimeters (24–28 in) long. The tall premaxilla (frontmost upper jaw bone), which made the tip of the snout very blunt, was also typical of the family. However, the skull of Majungasaurus was markedly wider than in other abelisaurids. All abelisaurids had a rough, sculptured texture on

12432-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

12544-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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