Changes: Carcharodontosaurus

Revision as of 20:57, 20 February 2010

Carcharodontosaurus, meaning shark toothed lizard, was native to Africa 100 - 93 million years ago during the late Aptian to early Cemonian periods of the Cretaceous. Therer is two species known. C.sahiricus is the type species, while C.iguidennis is larger.

Size

C.Sahiricus measured up to 12 meters long and weighed in at less than 6t. However, the larger C.iguidennis measured up to 14m long and weighed nearly 7t. Ever since its discovery it has been a contender for the title of largest Theropod. Its initial indetification led to massive hype, despite Tyrannosaurus was of a similar length but bulkier, and the seemingly forgotten Spinosaurus was bigger still at 14-15m at the time. Carcharodontosaurus fell out of the public view until Paul Sereno discovered some more fossils in the 1990's. But it was still largely ignored due to the Tyrannosaurus 'Sue' and Giganotosaurus, despite the fact that Carcharodontosaurus was longer and heavier than both of them.

Fossils

Paul Sereno next to a cast of a C.iguidennis skull

Very little is known about Carcharodontosaurus and Carcharodontosaurids in general. The Holotype of carcharodontosaurus, discovered in 1912 by Stromer along with Spinosaurus. After describing Spinosaurus, he described another large Theropod which he dubbed Spinosaurus B. It was not until the 1930's when more fragmentary remains, albeit sub-adult, was it realised this Spinosaurus B was actually very different from Spinosaurus, and so Stromer re-named it Carcharodontosaurus sahiricus, meaning shark tooth lizard. Then in the late 1990's, Paul Sereno, in an expedition that yielded Suchomimus and new Sarcosuchus fossils, found some new large Carcharodontosaurid jaw fragments. These were formally described in 2007 and were dubbed Carcharodontosaurus iguidennis. the paper put it at 13.2m long. But if it were in the same proportiones as C.sairicus who had a 1.6m skull, a C.iguidennis who has a 1.75m skull would be aroung 14m long and 7t in weight.

Carcharodontosaurus stats

Name Means: Shark toothed reptile
Pronouciation: kar-KAR-oh-don-tow-SORE-uss
Average Length: 40 feet (12 meters)
Maximum Length: 46 feet (14 meters)
Average Height: 13 feet (4 meters)
Maximum Height: 14 feet (4.2 meters)
Average Weight: 5.5 tons
Maximum Weight: 7 tons
When: 100 to 93 million years ago.
Where: Africa
Diet: Carnivorous-Ate other Dinosaurs and Scavenged

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 [[File:C.iguidennis_skull_Paul_Sereno.jpg|thumb|252px|Paul Sereno next to a cast of a C.iguidennis skull]]
-Very little is known about Carcharodontosaurus and Carcharodontosaurids in general. The Holotype of carcharodontosaurus, discovered in 1912 by Stromer along with Spinosaurus. After describing Spinosaurus, he described another large Theropod which he dubbed Spinosaurus B. It was not until the 1930's when more fragmentary remains, albeit sub-adult, was it realised this Spinosaurus B was actually very different from Spinosaurus, and so Stromer re-named it Carcharodontosaurus sahiricus, meaning shark tooth lizard. Then in the late 1990's, Paul Sereno, in an expedition that yielded [http://deadtimes.wikia.com/index.php?title=Suchomimus| Suchomimus] and new Sarcosuchus fossils, found some new large Carcharodontosaurid jaw fragments. These were formally described in 2007 and were dubbed Carcharodontosaurus iguidennis. the paper put it at 13.2m long. But if it were in the same proportiones as C.sairicus who had a 1.6m skull, a C.iguidennis who has a 1.75m skull would be aroung 14m long and 7t in weight.
+Very little is known about Carcharodontosaurus and Carcharodontosaurids in general. The Holotype of carcharodontosaurus, discovered in 1912 by Stromer along with Spinosaurus. After describing Spinosaurus, he described another large Theropod which he dubbed Spinosaurus B. It was not until the 1930's when more fragmentary remains, albeit sub-adult, was it realised this Spinosaurus B was actually very different from Spinosaurus, and so Stromer re-named it Carcharodontosaurus sahiricus, meaning shark tooth lizard. Then in the late 1990's, Paul Sereno, in an expedition that yielded [http://deadtimes.wikia.com/index.php?title=Suchomimus Suchomimus] and new Sarcosuchus fossils, found some new large Carcharodontosaurid jaw fragments. These were formally described in 2007 and were dubbed Carcharodontosaurus iguidennis. the paper put it at 13.2m long. But if it were in the same proportiones as C.sairicus who had a 1.6m skull, a C.iguidennis who has a 1.75m skull would be aroung 14m long and 7t in weight.
 ==Carcharodontosaurus stats==