Carcharodontosauridae
The Carcharodontosauridae were a family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. They are a clade in the Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids included three of the most famous land predators ever known to science: Giganotosaurus, and Concavenator. All of these predators were smaller than the more popular Tyrannosaurus in size.
| Carcharodontosaurids Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous, 154–90 mya
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| Reconstructed skeleton of Tyrannotitan | |
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| Family: | Carcharodontosauridae
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Evolution
Together with the spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids were the largest predators in the early and middle Cretaceous throughout Gondwana. They were also in North America and Asia.[1] Lesser-known carcharodontosaurs included Carcharodontosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus.
Their ages range from 127 to 93 million years ago (mya). After that, they may have been replaced by the smaller abelisaurids in Gondwana and by tyrannosaurids in North America and Asia. If so, this faunal replacement occurred on a global scale.[2]
However, some theropod teeth discovered in the late Cretaceous of Brazil, as well as a fragment of right maxilla appear to belong to carcharodontosaurids. This suggests the group survived until the latest Cretaceous.[3][4]
In December 2011, Oliver Rauhut described a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurid from the Upper Jurassic during the late Kimmeridgian to earliest Tithonian, about 154–150 mya of southeastern Tanzania.
Carcharodontosauridae Media
Lost original teeth of Carcharodontosaurus (Megalosaurus) saharicus (Fig. 1-2), the lectotype being at the top (Fig. 1)
Partial holotype skull (white parts are reconstructed) and teeth of Giganotosaurus, Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum
Size comparison of various theropods belonging to Carcharodontosauridae. They are Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Tyrannotitan, Acrocanthosaurus, Concavenator, Shaochilong. This image is a composition of the images below. Human silhouette f
Restored skull of Concavenator, drawn from 3d model of skull figured in "The cranial osteology of Concavenator corcovatus (Theropoda; Carcharodontosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain" by Elena Cuesta, Daniel Vidal, Francisco Ortega and José L. Sanz
Artistic reconstruction of Neovenator salerii. Proportions align with Hartman; cranial integument is based on Barker et al. (2017).
Concavenator corcovatus by Daniel Vidal 2012
An improved version of an existing reconstruction of the Cretaceous Nigerien carcharodontosaurid, Eocarcharia dinops.
Acrocanthosaurus restoration
Shaochilong feeding on Sinornithomimus.
Carcharodontosaurus reconstruction. Based on Giganotosaurus (Hartman), with anatomy based on Sereno et al. (1996).
References
- ↑ Brusatte S. et al 2009. The first definitive carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Asia and the delayed ascent of tyrannosaurids. Naturwissenschaften, PMID 19488730
- ↑ Novas, de Valais, Vickers-Rich, and Rich. 2005. A large Cretaceous theropod from Patagonia, Argentina, and the evolution of carcharodontosaurids. Naturwissenschaften,
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAzevedoetal2013. - ↑ Carlos Roberto Candeiro, Philip Currie and Lílian Bergqvist. Theropod teeth from the Marília Formation (late Maastrichtian) at the Paleontological Site of Peirópolis in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Geociências 42 (2) (2012). p. 323–330. Retrieved 2014-04-23.