#Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Carcharodontosaurus

By Ripley Cook 

Etymology: Jagged Tooth Reptile

First Described By: Stromer, 1931

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Carnosauria, Allosauroidea, Allosauria, Carcharodontosauria, Carcharodontosauridae, Carcharodontosaurinae

Referred Species: C. saharicus, C. iguidensis

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Carcharodontosaurus lived from about 112 million years ago until 93.5 million years ago, from the Albian through the Cenomanian of the Early to Late Cretaceous 

Carcharodontosaurus lived in a wide variety of environments - the Continental Intercalaire Formation of Algeria and Tunisia, the Chenini Member of the Aïn el Guettar Formation of Tunisia, the Bahariya Formation of Egypt, the Mut Member of the Quseir Formation, the Aoufous and Ifezouane Formations of Morocco, and the Tagrezou Sandstone and Echkar Formations of Niger.  

Physical Description: Carcharodontosaurus was a very large theropod dinosaur - one of the biggest known, in fact - and a Carnosaur, a group of predatory dinosaurs which were extremely common from the Jurassic through the early-middle Cretaceous. Like other large meat eating dinosaurs, they had short arms, strong necks, and huge heads - meaning, they manipulated and interacted with their environment primarily through their heads, and relied on their jaws for capturing and taking down prey. Carcharodontosaurus was one of the longest predatory dinosaurs, ranging up to 13.3 meters long, and weighing between 6.2 and 15.1 tons. A good chunk of that length was made up of the skull of Carcharodontosaurus, which was truly enormous - as long as 2 meters.

That mouth was filled with long, sharp, serrated teeth, reaching up to 8 inches in length - these teeth are so distinctive that the animal was named for them! Carcharodontosaurus had a brain very similar to that of its earlier relative, Allosaurus, and seemed to have a well developed sense of smell and sight. Still, it was of typical intelligence for a non-avian dinosaur. It had a triangle inner ear configuration like Allosaurus and other nonavian reptiles, but the brain projected into the area of the canals like the situation found in other theropods, birds, and pterosaurs. 

Size Comparison (Carcharodontosaurus in purple, second from the left) by Dinoguy2, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Carcharodontosaurus was fairly long in body besides the huge head, with a long tail and long torso. Its legs were fairly well developed, but not as thickly muscled as those found in, say, Tyrannosaurs and Abelisaurs. It also probably had a crest on its head, which would have been helpful in display. As a large animal, it is very unlikely for it to have had feathers - if it did, they would have been solely ornamental in function (it is important to note, of course, that its close relative Concavenator may have had proto-wings, but this is a hotly debated topic, and Concavenator was smaller than Carcharodontosaurus by a lot).

Diet: Carcharodontosaurus would have been a hypercarnivore, feeding primarily on other larger animals, especially sauropods.

Behavior: Carcharodontosaurus was an extremely common animal in North Africa during the middle Cretaceous, and so it isn’t unlikely that it lived at least in family groups, potentially forming mobs to take down particularly large sauropod prey. It would have used its jaws to take down food, opening them wide and using the teeth to slash at prey and leading to it bleeding out so that Carcharodontosaurus could proceed to feeding. It would have relied on it’s decent sense of smell to find food, using it to help pinpoint food from far and wide in its environment. It could even lift animals weighing up to a thousand pounds with its jaws, so if it didn’t want to work together in a group of bring down larger food, it could grab a variety of snacks just to have on its own.

If Carcharodontosaurus lived in groups, they weren’t the most congenial of family arrangements - there are fossils of Carcharodontosaurus that indicate it was wounded with something that made circle punctures in the bone, which sounds about right for fighting with another Carcharodontosaurus. Still, it seems at least somewhat likely that this animal would have cared for its young in some form. 

By Fred Wierum, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Ecosystem: Carcharodontosaurus lived in a variety of ecosystems across North Africa in the middle Cretaceous, in a variety of different environments. It lived in open floodplains, as well as near mangrove forests, but not as associated with wet ecosystems as Spinosaurus was. It would have fed almost entirely on land-based prey, and thus, didn’t come into competition with Spinosaurus very frequently.

Carcharodontosaurus lived in the Bahariya Formation of Egypt, with Spinosaurus, Sigilmassasaurus, Deltadromeus, and Bahariasaurus as other theropods. There were huge titanosaurs for it to feed on, namely Aegyptosaurus and Paralititan. This was an environment filled with confirers, water ferns, and tree ferns, as the climate switched between the swamp to a drier environment due to dramatic seasonal fluctuations.

It was also found in the Mut Member of the Quseir Formation, a more muddy environment than the Bahariya Formation; though Carcharodontosaurus lived alongside Spinosaurus, it’s uncertain what Carcharodontosaurus would have eaten - no major land animals are known from this environment.

Carcharodontosaurus in Tunisia is known from the Chenini Member of the Aïn el Guettar Formation, which was also a water based environment with Spinosaurus and many fish, but the other dinosaurs present - which would have probably been Carcharodontosaurus’ main source of food - are not formally named.

Also in Tunisia, and Algeria, Carcharodontosaurus was in a drier, pebbled environment, probably at least something of a scrub environment, though there were some cycads and conifers. Here it lived alongside animals like the sailed sauropod Rebbachisaurus, and the weird theropod Elaphrosaurus. There was also the large crocodilian Sarcosuchus, and many different reptiles and fish. 

By Scott Reid 

In Morocco, Spinosaurus is known from the famous Kem Kem Beds - a flooding river ecosystem, with distinct dry and wet seasons. The Aoufous was the earlier environment, followed by the Ifezouane environment. Here, Carcharodontosaurus lived alongside Spinosaurus, Deltadromeus, and Sigilmassassaurus - as before - but also other theropods like Sauroniops and Inosaurus. Rebbachisaurus was here too, a good source of food for Carcharodontosaurus. There were large fish, crocodilians, and pterosaurs like Alanqa, Siroccopteryx, Colobrhynchus, and Xericeps - other decent sources of food, if only Carcharodontosaurus can catch them.

Carcharodontosaurus, finally, is known from the Echkar Formation of Niger. Here, it lived alongside Spinosaurus and Bahariasaurus, as well as Spinostropheus and Rugops, and the large sauropod Rebbachisaurus and Aegyptosaurus - a great place for Carcharodontosaurus to find food.

Other: Carcharodontosaurus, like Spinosaurus, was actually lost during World War II, because nazis literally ruin everything. Fossils of it have been found since, and luckily it doesn’t seem to be quite as much of a mystery as our old sailback friend.

Species Differences: C. saharicus comes from more northern locations of Africa, while C. iguidensis is more from the south. They also have somewhat differently shaped jaws and brains.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut

Apesteguía, S.; Nathan D. Smith; Rubén Juárez Valieri; Peter J. Makovicky (2016). "An Unusual New Theropod with a Didactyl Manus from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina". PLoS ONE. 11 (7): e0157793.

Amiot, R., X. Wang, C. Lécuyer, E. Buffetaut, L. Boudad, L. Cavin, Z. Ding, F. Fluteau, A. W. A. Kellner, H. Tong, and F. Zhang. 2010. Oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of middle Cretaceous vertebrates from North Africa and Brazil: Ecological and environmental significance. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 297(2):439-451

Bassoullet, J.-P. and J. Iliou. 1967. Découverte des Dinosauriens associés à des Crocodiliens et des Poissons dans le Crétacé inférieur de l'Atlas saharien (Algérie) [Discovery of dinosaurs associated with crocodilians and fish in the Lower Cretaceous of the Saharan Atlas (Algeria)]. Société Géologique de la France, Comptes Rendus Sommaire des Sciences 1967:294-295

Bouaziz, S., E. Buffetaut, M. Ghanmi, J.-J. Jaeger, M. Martin, J.-M. Mazin, and H. Tong. 1988. Nouvelles découvertes de vertébrés fossiles dans l'Albien du sud tunisien [New discoveries of fossil vertebrates in the Albian of southern Tunisia]. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 8e série 4(2):335-339

Brusatte, S.L. and Sereno, P.C. (2007). "A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (dinosauria: theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and a revision of the genus." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(4).

Buffetaut, E. 1989. New remains of the enigmatic dinosaur Spinosaurus from the Cretaceous of Morocco and the affinities between Spinosaurus and Baryonyx. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 1989(2):79-87

Calvo, J.O.; Coria, R.A. (1998). "New specimen of Giganotosaurus carolinii (CORIA & SALGADO, 1995), supports it as the largest theropod ever found" Gaia. 15: 117–122.

Churcher, C. S., and D. A. Russell. 1992. Terrestrial vertebrates from Campanians strata in Wadi el-Gedid (Kharga and Dakleh Oases), western desert of Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 12(3, suppl.):23A

Deparet, C.; Savornin, J. (1925). "Sur la decouverte d'une faune de vertebres albiens a Timimoun (Sahara occidental)". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris. 181: 1108–1111.

Deparet, C.; Savornin, J. (1927). "La faune de reptiles et de poisons albiens de Timimoun (Sahara algérien)". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 27: 257–265.

Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011

Lapparent, A. F. d. 1951. Découverte de Dinosauriens, associés à une faune de Reptiles et de Poissons, dans le Crétacé inférieur de l'Extrême Sud tunisien [Discovery of dinosaurs associated with a reptile and fish fauna in the Lower Cretaceous of extreme southern Tunisia]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences à Paris 232:1430-1432

Lapparent, A. F. d. 1953. Gisements de Dinosauriens dans le "Continental intercalaire" d'In Abangarit (Sahara méridional) [Dinosaur localities in the "Continental Intercalaire" of In Abangarit (southern Sahara)]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences à Paris 236:1905-1906

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Larsson, H.C.E. 2001. Endocranial anatomy of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) and its implications for theropod brain evolution. pp. 19–33. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Ed.s Tanke, D. H., Carpenter, K., Skrepnick, M. W. Indiana University Press.

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Russell, D. A. 1996. Isolated dinosaur bones from the Middle Cretaceous of the Tafilalt, Morocco. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 4e série, section C 18(2-3):349-402

Schlüter, T., and W. Schwarzhans. 1978. Eine Bonebed-Lagerstätte aus dem Wealden Süd-Tunisiens (Umgebung Ksar Krerachfa) [A bonebed from the Wealden of southern Tunisia (near Ksar Krerachfa)]. Berliner Geowissenschaften Abhandlungen A 8:53-65

Seebacher, F. (2001). "A New Method to Calculate Allometric Length-Mass Relationships of Dinosaurs" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 21 (1): 51–60.

Sereno, P. C.; Dutheil, D. B.; Iarochene, M.; Larsson, H. C. E.; Lyon, G. H.; Magwene, P. M.; Sidor, C. A.; Varricchio, D. J.; Wilson, J. A. (1996). "Predatory Dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous Faunal Differentiation". Science. 272 (5264): 986–991.

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Stromer, E. 1915. Results of research trips by Prof. E. Stromer in the deserts of Egypt. II. Vertebrate remains of the Baharîje stage (lowest Cenomanian). 3. The original of the Theropod Spinosaurus aegyptiacus nov. gen., nov. spec. Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences Mathematical-physical class Treatise 28 (3) : 1-31

Stromer, E. (1931). "Wirbeltiere-Reste der Baharijestufe (unterestes Canoman). Ein Skelett-Rest von Carcharodontosaurus nov. gen." Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung, 9(Neue Folge): 1–23.

Therrien, F.; Henderson, D.M. (2007). "My theropod is bigger than yours...or not: estimating body size from skull length in theropods". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (1): 108–115.

[reneg661]

Is a genus of large carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed during the Cenomanian stage of the mid-Cretaceous Period in Northern Africa. It is currently known to include two species: C. saharicus and C. iguidensis, which are among the largest theropods, nearly as large as or even larger than Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Spinosaurus. The genus Carcharodontosaurus is named after the shark genus Carcharodon, itself composed of the Greek karchar[os] (κάρχαρος, meaning "jagged" or "sharp") and odōn (ὀδών, "teeth"), and the suffix -saurus ("lizard").

Carnivore

Art (c) reneg661

[sciencetoastudent]

“Shark Toothed Lizard” – The Rise and Fall of Carcharodontosaurus

The Carcharodontosaurus genus currently consists of two species, the first of which Carcharodontosaurus saharicus  (originally called Megalosaurus saharicus), is known from fossil material found in North Africa.  The second species, named and described in 2007, was erected following fossil finds, including skull material from the Echkar Formation of Niger, this species is known as C. iguidensis.  Although both species are known from fragmentary material and a few isolated teeth, differences in the shape of the upper jaw and the structure of the brain case enabled scientists to confidently establish Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis as a second, distinct species.

An Illustration of a Typical Carcharodontosaurid Dinosaur

Fearsome “Shark Lizard”

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

Carcharodontosaurus means “shark-toothed lizard”,  a reference to the fact that the teeth of this huge carnivore, reminded scientists of the teeth of sharks belonging to the Carcharodon genus of sharks, such as the teeth of the Great White Shark (C. carcharias).  It is ironic that this terrestrial predator should be named after a marine carnivore, as changing sea levels very probably influenced the evolution of these dinosaurs and may have ultimately led to their extinction, at least from Africa.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of Collecta dinosaur models including a 1:40 scale Deluxe Carcharodontosaurus: Collecta Scale Dinosaur Models

Pronounced - Car-car-oh-dont-toe-sore-us, the oldest dinosaur currently assigned to the Carcharodontosauridae family is Veterupristisaurus (Vet-ter-roo-pris-tee-sore-us).  This dinosaur was named and described in 2011, although the fossil material was discovered over seventy-five years ago.   The fossils come from the famous Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, it lived during the Late Jurassic and the trivial name V. milneri honours the now retired Angela Milner who worked at the Natural History Museum (London).

Carcharodontosaurus lived during the Cretaceous (Late Albian to mid Cenomanian faunal stages).  During this time, the great, southern super-continent called Gondwanaland continued to break up and as sea levels rose, so populations of dinosaurs became separated by the inflow of sea water.

Rising Sea Levels Influence Dinosaur Evolution

Rising sea levels cut off dinosaur populations.

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

Communities became isolated and this may have provided a boost to the evolution of new species.  The map shows the approximate location of fossil material associated with C. saharicus and C. iguidensis.  Populations of carcharodontosaurids may have become cut-off from each other and this gave rise to new species of Carcharodontosaurus.  This may help to explain the abundance of super-sized predators that lived in this part of the world during the Cretaceous.  Both species of Carcharodontosaurus shared a common ancestor, but their separation led to the evolution of two, distinct species.  This natural process is called allopatric speciation.

Sadly for the mega fauna that inhabited the coastal swamps and verdant flood plains of North Africa, rising sea levels in the later stages of the Cenomanian led to the destruction of much of this habitat.  The loss of habitat probably led to the demise of the ecosystem and the vulnerable apex predators such as the carcharodontosaurids and the spinosaurids became extinct.

To read an article on the discovery of C. iguidensis: New Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur from Africa

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, C. iguidensis

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Carcharodontosaurus

Name: Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, C. iguidensis 

Name Meaning: Jagged Teeth Lizard 

First Described: 1931

Described By: Stromer 

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Carnosauria, Allosauroidea, Allosauria, Carcharodontosauria, Carcharodontosauridae 

Carcharodontosaurus is one of my favorite predatory dinosaurs, and one of the most terrifying ones in my opinion. This animal was huge, between 12 and 13 meters long, making it one of the largest known predatory dinosaurs. It, like Spinosaurus, had its initial remains destroyed during WWII, but many more specimens have been found since, enough so that two species have been described. It lived in the Albian to Cenomanian stages of the mid Cretaceous, about 100 to 93 million years ago. It's been found in Algeria, Brazil, Egypt, Morocco, Niger, and Tunisia. It was probably one of the major, if not the apex, predators in its region, since it was much more clearly a full-carnivore than a piscivore (like Spinosaurus.) It was slightly bigger than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus, but still smaller than Spinosaurus. 

Source: http://dinosaurios.org/carcharodontosaurus/

It was named after the Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) due to the shape of its teeth, which were enormous (about 8 inches long) and serrated. It had a very long skull once thought to be the longest skull of any of the theropod dinosaurs, however parts of it were missing which lead to the size being misinterpreted. Instead it has been given a more reasonable length of 1.6 meters long, which is still pretty freaking long and terrifying. Instead the longest theropod skull is thought to belong to Giganotosaurus. It had enormous jaws that could pack a terrifying bite. 

Source: http://www.jplegacy.org/board/showthread.php?t=22604

Once again we have a dinosaur featured in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (that isn't obvious or anything, like Dilophosaurus and Spinosaurus which were in the game but also in the movies so I didn't mention it), and was one of my favorites to have in the park. God I miss that game. 

The brain of this animal has been extensively studied, and has been determined to be very similar to the brain of Allosaurus, indicating that brain development wasn't selected for in carnosaurian evolution. It had a brain to body ratio similar to crocodiles, indicating that avian style brain evolution had not yet occurred. It had three interesting semicircular canals in the inner ear similar to those of Allosaurus, lizards and turtles, but not birds, which would have allowed the animal to hear much as those organisms and not like birds. However, given the presence of quills on Concavenator, it's reasonable to suppose that it too had some sort of protofeather ornamentation on its arms and elsewhere on its body (as depicted below). 

Source: http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9689775/12/

(Once again, i assume dinosaurs had feathers until proven otherwise, and not the other way around.) This animal had been known to paleontology for a while before actually being given its own genus, originally described under Megalosaurus like so many theropods from the area. It was kept obscure thanks to WWII, otherwise it might have been this dinosaur, and not Tyrannosaurus, that would have been hailed as the biggest predator for the better part of the 20th century. However, Tyrannosaurus and other coelurosaurians had something on the carnosaurs: bigger brains, which is probably why they outcompeted the carnosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period in the Northern hemisphere, causing Carcharodontosaurus and its relatives to go extinct long before the end of the Mesozoic. 

Source: http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/File:Carcharodontosaurus_raul_martin.jpg

Carcharodontosaurus was a more visually oriented predator, relying on its depth perception to see prey more than smelling prey. Its teeth were built for slicing through flesh, unlike the teeth of T. rex which were built for curshing bone. It also was probably much better at running, given that it like most carnosaurs (eg, Allosaurus) was more gracile than T. rex. It lived alongside many dinosaurs, including Spinosaurus, Dicraeosaurus, Bahariasaurus, Majungasaurus, and Deltadromeus. 

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcharodontosaurus

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/c/carcharodontosaurus.html

Shout out goes to figmentjedi!