Carcharodontosaurus
Carcharodontosaurus was a giant carnivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous period, 100 - 94 million years ago.[1] It was about 15 meters long and had a weight of about six tons, and a height of 5 metres tall. Fossils of Carcharodontosaurus were found in Africa by paleontologist Ernst Stromer.
| Carcharodontosaurus Temporal range: Early - Late Cretaceous
100–94 mya | |
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| Genus: | Carcharodontosaurus Stromer, 1921
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Carcharodontosaurus was closely related to the slightly larger than Giganotosaurus, its cousin from Argentina; they are both carcharodontosaurid carnosaurs. Recent discoveries of Carcharodontosaurus put its adult length at 39 - 49 feet, making it the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Africa, after Spinosaurus.
Only two Carcharodontosaurus fossils have been found. Two teeth were found in the 1920s. Other parts were found in Egypt in the 1930s. They were destroyed in bombing raids on Munich in World War II while they were on display.[2]
A skull was uncovered in 1996: its length estimates were larger than the older ones and so was its skull, which measured 5.2 feet or 1.6 metres.[2] Its jaws are narrow like those of Giganotosaurus. Its teeth were up to 7 inches long.
Carcharodontosaurus Media
Carcharodontosaurus saharicus skull reconstruction of the "neotype" specimen, UCRC PV12 - including specimen NMC 41859 represented by a fragmentary dentary.*White represents known material, grey areas reconstructed with Meraxes gigas, Acrocanthosaurus and Tyrannotitan.
Life restoration of C. saharicus
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.
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Carcharodontosaurus reconstruction. Based on Giganotosaurus (Hartman), with anatomy based on Sereno et al. (1996).
Notes
- ↑ The name means 'sharp toothed lizard'.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Briggs, Helen (2007-12-12). "New meat-eating dinosaur unveiled". Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis was one of the largest meat-eaters that ever lived. BBC NEWS. Retrieved December 15, 2007.