Papers

The paper that named Masiakasaurus and described it is not open source anywhere; it was published in Nature and is available only there pretty much. That's okay, it does happen, but it's sad. You can read the abstract without buying the article but that's about all you can read anywhere. I could have my acquaintance at The Theropod Archives pass along the paper to me, but there is still no way to host it without breaking a thousand copyright issues, so that is sad for us all. Unfortunately, the only other mainstream paper on the dinosaur is also under copyrights that require subscriptions, however, this one is in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and therefore can be read if you have an SVP membership. Not everyone can of course, it's an expensive club to get into honestly. This second paper is titled The Osteology Of Masiakasaurus Knopfleri, A Small Abelisauroid (Dinosauria-Theropoda) From The Late Cretaceous Of Madagascar. The purpose of the paper is pretty self explanatory given that the title says it is going to discuss the osteology of the animal; meaning that it talks about the research done specifically on the bones, their forms, and their composition.