When he first named the species, Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte mentioned several features that distinguish it from all other traversodontids.
The national myth was mobilising against a foreign army and against collaborationist with José Bonaparte, regarded as non-Spanish (afrancesados).
Napoleon Bonaparte | San Jose | San José | San José, Costa Rica | José Carreras | Joseph Bonaparte | José Feliciano | San Jose Mercury News | José José | José Saramago | José María Aznar | José Ferrer | San Jose State University | José Rizal | José de San Martín | Bonaparte | San Jose Sharks | Jérôme Bonaparte | San José Province | José Raúl Capablanca | José Limón | José Martí | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero | José González | José Clemente Orozco | San Jose Earthquakes | Napoléon Bonaparte | San Jose Repertory Theatre | San José Department | Philip José Farmer |
Both genus and species were named and described by Argentine paleontologists Jose Bonaparte and Fernando Novas in 1985, who placed it in the newly created family Abelisauridae.
The fossils were described in 1999 by Bonaparte and Mateus, after excavations that lasted from 1987, the year of its discovery, to 1992.