Giganotosaurus
| Giganotosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous 99 - 97 mya
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| Replica of Giganotosaurus at the Australian Museum in Sydney. | |
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| Genus: | Giganotosaurus
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Giganotosaurus is a large theropod dinosaur. It lived during the Upper Cretaceous, about 99 - 97 million years ago in what is now Argentina. 70 percent of the skeleton has been found. Giganotosaurus was probably the second largest carnivorous dinosaur of all time. Another large carnivore, Mapusaurus, also lived in the same territory. They were both relatives of the North African Carcharodontosaurus.
The largest specimen is 14 m (46 ft) long,[1] and 4 m (13 ft) tall at the hip. Its weight is estimated as 13 t (29,000 lb).[2][3]
Titanosaur fossils belonging to Andesaurus and Limaysaurus have been found near the remains of Giganotosaurus. The huge titanosaur Argentinosaurus also lived in the area. Probably, the titanosaurs were the main prey of the large theropods.
Giganotosaurus Media
Holotype skeleton with reconstructed skull, arm, and feet, on the floor in EBPM
Reconstructed skeleton, EBPM
Full size model nicknamed "Lady Giga", Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.
Size (green) compared to that of other large theropods
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Comparison between the estimated sizes of the holotype (light green) and assigned specimen (dark green)
Diagram showing the known skull remains of the holotype (left) and the assigned specimen
Life restoration of Giganotosaurus. • The proportions of the illustration are based on skeletal diagrams by palaeontologists Gregory S. Paul (The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, 2010, p. 98) and Scott Hartman[1].*• The dermal spines and skin colouration are speculative.
Reconstructed skeleton, Natural History Museum, Helsinki
Quadrate bone openings in various theropds; C (top) is Giganotosaurus
Artistic reconstruction of Neovenator salerii. Proportions align with Hartman; cranial integument is based on Barker et al. (2017).
References
- ↑ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. 2012. Dinosaurs: the most complete, up-to-date encyclopedia for dinosaur lovers of all ages. Winter 2011 Appendix.
- ↑ Seebacher, F.. A new method to calculate allometric length-mass relationships of dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21 (1) (2001). p. 51–60. doi:[0051:ANMTCA2.0.CO;2 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0051:ANMTCA]2.0.CO;2].
- ↑ Therrien F. and Henderson D.M.. My theropod is bigger than yours...or not: estimating body size from skull length in theropods. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (1) (2007). p. 108–115. doi:[108:MTIBTY2.0.CO;2 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[108:MTIBTY]2.0.CO;2].