Sunday, April 1, 2018

Dino Bios: Carcharodontosaurus.

Carcharodontosaurus:
Carcharodontosaurus from Planet Dinosaur:
Time: 113-94 million years ago, Albian-Cenomanian of the early-late Cretaceous period.
Place: Africa.
Size: 39-45 feet (11.8-13.8 meters).
Weight: 6-6.8 tons. Maybe more.
Skull: 165.6 cm.
Diet: Carnivore.

Let's talk about Carcharodontosaurus!

Description:
Carcharodontosaurus was a member of the carcharodontosauridae, and the dinosaur from which the name originated from.  It was 39-45 feet long (11.8-13.8 meters), with a maximum skull length of 165.6 cm. As for weight, Henderson and Nicholls (2015) gave 6 tons (Figure 1), and Seebacher (2001) gave 6.8 tons (6,173.2 kg) (pg. 54).

Carnivorous theropod dinosaurs had enamel in their teeth, so they must have had lips to cover and protect their teeth (Reisz and Larson, 2016, pg. 64-66) (Blake Eligh, 2016) (Mindy Weisberger, 2016) (Emanuela Grinberg, 2016) (Phys, 2016). Therefore, Carcharodontosaurus would have had lips covering its teeth. Interestingly, dinosaurs couldn't move its tongues (Mindy Weisberger, 2018)(ScienceDaily, 2018). 
Carcharodontosaurus' jaws were filled with long blade-like teeth which resembled a shark's. For this, it was given the nickname, "the shark-toothed reptile," (Don Lessem, 2010, pg. 79).

According to Kenneth Carpenter (2002), in most predatory theropods used their mouths first to grab prey first, and then they would grab their prey "in a 'bear hug'" with their hands (pg. 72, "Conclusion"). For Allosaurus, a relative of Carcharodontosaurus, its arms were relatively long and robust. The range of motion in its arms seems to have allowed it to grab and pull "moderately large prey" towards it. Carpenter says that evidence of Allosaurus using its arms to hunt large sauropods isn't present ("Biomechanical Analysis," pg. 71). Text-figure 9 shows Allosaurus', and other theropod's, range of motion for their hands (pg. 69). Apparently, it can bend its hand quite well outward. Perhaps this was the same for Carcharodontosaurus. Matt A. White et al., (2015) says that carcharodontosaurid arms were similar to tyrannosaurs, in which they used their jaws to grab their prey first and used their arms to secure it ("Discussion," p. 6). Therefore, it seems that carcharodontosaurids like Carcharodontosaurus used their hands to help their jaws capture prey mainly. However, their hands might have been able to bend slightly like Allosaurus'.

As for speed, Dececchi et al., (2020) says that theropods over 1000 kg would not be able to run fast, despite their different limb lengths. Instead, they were speed-walkers (Dececchi et al., 2020, "Abstract;" "Discussion," "Getting up to speed" p. 3; "Why tyrannosaurids?" p. 2) (EurekAlert, 2020). They could do this for a long time (The Canadian Press, 2020). The young seem to have been faster ("Results," "Relative leg length" p. 1), and pack-hunting was also suggested to help large theropods take down prey (The Canadian Press, 2020) (Dececchi et al., 2020, "Discussion," "Why tyrannosaurids?" p. 2-3).

Sauroniops, a carcharodontosaurid that is said to have lived during the same time and place as Carcharodontosaurus, is now considered to be a synonym of (same animal as) Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Ibrahim et al., 2020, "Systematics: Theropoda: 'Sauroniops'"). Andrea Cau, one of the Paleontologists that named Sauroniops, disagreed (Cau, Theropoda, 2020, "Sauroniops is not Carcharodontosaurus"). Due to how fragmentary Sauroniops is (only a frontal/piece of the eye exists), I'll leave it alone. 

Time:
Carcharodontosaurus lived 113-94 million years ago, during the Albian-Cenomanian of the early-late Cretaceous period (A.F. de Apparent, 1960, "Age of Continental Intercalaire," p. 11) (Buffetaut and Ouaja, 2002, "Abstract") (Brusatte and Sereno, 2007, pg. 904) (Brusatte et al., 2009, Figure 3) (Benson et al., 2010, Figure 3) (Eddy and Carr, 2011, Figure 55) (Michela Contessa, 2013, pg. 20-29) (Ibrahim et al., 2016, "Abstract," pg. 150) (Candiero et al., 2018, Figure 1) (Ibrahim et al., 2020, "Age" p. 7).

Prey:
Carcharodontosaurus was the most dominant predator on land during its time. Its main prey were medium-giant sauropods, like Aegyptosaurus (52 feet; 15.9 meters), Rebbachisaurus (93 feet; 28.2 meters) and Paralititan (111 feet; 33.7 meters). It also hunted ornithopods, but it's unclear whether or not it hunted Ouranosaurus or a new and unnamed ornithopod, due to fossilized teeth of an ornithopod that has not been identified yet by scientists (Fanti et al., 2016). Ibrahim et al., (2020) discusses a tooth and a footprint found as well that might belong to a small-large ornithopod ("Dinosauria," "Ornithischia").

Enemies:
Carcharodontosaurus co-existed with predators such as Bahariasaurus (38 feet; 11.5 meters), the abelisaurid OLPH 025 (28 feet; 8.6 meters), many crocodyliforms, and perhaps Spinosaurus (29-55 feet long; 8.8-16.8 meters), but Spinosaurus would have preferred rivers instead of land, where Carcharodontosaurus was (Kristen Rogers, 2020, "Competing for food," p. 1).

Carcharodontosaurus and Elosuchus by David Bonadonna:
Links:
Stromer (1931) (Part 2):
http://www.dinochecker.com/papers/Stromers-Egypt-expedition_Carcharodontosaurus_Stromer_1931.pdf
Sereno et al., (1996):
https://vdocuments.site/amp/predatory-dinosaurs-from-the-sahara-and-late-cretaceous-faunal-differentiation.html
Time:
A.F. de Apparent (1960) ("Age of Continental Intercalaire," p. 11):
https://paleoglot.org/files/Lapparent_60.pdf
Buffetaut and Ouaja (2002) (Pg. 415-416):
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/15484814.pdf
Brusatte and Sereno (2007) (Pg. 904):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232678470_A_new_species_of_Carcharodontosaurus_Dinosauria_Theropoda_from_the_Cenomanian_of_Niger_and_a_revision_of_the_genus
Brusatte et al., (2009) (Figure 3):
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Phylogenetic-relationships-of-Shaochilong-maortuensis-and-other-allosauroid-theropods_fig3_26259477
Benson et al., (2010) (Figure 3):
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Relationships-of-Cretaceous-allosauroids-based-on-the-phylogenetic-analysis-herein_fig3_272152523?_sg=sg8gP3l_KoTmLPM7P9r-Lu_yNk9SC72jXEy7GrKPInaa4D1wqfQQSERNvHNSCGjUX0VdyILWGIKwJYn1Oo3d5w
Eddy and Clarke (2011) (Figure 55):
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Phylograms-and-comparisons-of-body-size-optimization-across_fig27_50892373
Link 2:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OBzyzEUNgKYJ:journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file%3Ftype%3Dsupplementary%26id%3Dinfo:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0017932.s002+&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari
(Full Article):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3061882/
Contessa, Michela. Paleontological studies of Cretaceous vertebrate fossil beds in the Tataouine Basin (southern Tunisia). 2013. Pg. 20-29:
http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/5240/1/Contessi_Michela_tesi.pdf
Ibrahim et al., (2016) ("Abstract," pg. 150):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304214496_Evidence_of_a_derived_titanosaurian_Dinosauria_Sauropoda_in_the_Kem_Kem_beds_of_Morocco_with_comments_on_sauropod_paleoecology_in_the_Cretaceous_of_Africa
Candiero et al., (2018) (Figure 1):
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/fig3_326054982
Link 2:
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/paz/v58/1807-0205-paz-58-e20185829.pdf
Ibrahim et al., (2020). Geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of eastern Morocco. ("Age" p. 7):
International Chronostratigraphic Chart (2020):
https://stratigraphy.org/timescale/
International Commission of Stratigraphy Website:
https://stratigraphy.org/news/130
Size:
https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2018/10/calculations-for-largest-theropods.html
Weight:
Henderson and Nicholls (2016) (Figure 1):
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.23164
Seebacher (2001) (pg. 54):
http://dinoweb.ucoz.ru/_fr/4/A_new_method_to.pdf
Lips:
Reisz and Larson (2016) (Pg. 64-66):
https://cansvp.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/csvp-2016-abstract-book-compressed.pdf
Blake Eligh (2016):
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/did-dinosaurs-have-lips-ask-university-toronto-paleontologist
Mindy Weisberger (2016):
https://www.livescience.com/54912-did-t-rex-have-lips.html
Emanuela Grinberg (2016):
https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/22/world/dinosaur-lips-teeth-study/index.html
Phys (2016):
https://phys.org/news/2016-06-dinosaurs-lips.html
Tongue:
Mindy Weisberger (2018):
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/t-rex-couldnt-stick-out-its-tongue/
ScienceDaily (2018):
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620150129.htm
Teeth:
Don Lessem (2010) (Pg. 79):
https://books.google.com/books?id=pO0EelpDbn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+ultimate+dinopedia&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNp7T6wNToAhWQhXIEHSDEBTQQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20ultimate%20dinopedia&f=false
Hands:
Kenneth Carpenter (2002):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225366451_Forelimb_biomechanics_of_nonavian_theropod_dinosaurs_in_predation
Matt A. White et al., (2015) ("Discussion," p. 6):
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0137709
Speed:
Dececchi et al., (2020):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336117841_The_fast_and_the_frugal_Divergent_locomotory_strategies_drive_limb_lengthening_in_theropod_dinosaurs
EurekAlert (2020):
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/p-trw051320.php
The Canadian Press (2020):
https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/research-says-t-rex-was-built-for-long-distances-not-sprints-1.24134506
Sauroniops?:
Ibrahim et al., (2020). Geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of eastern Morocco. ("Systematics: Theropoda: 'Sauroniops'"):
Contemporaries:
Contessa, Michela. Paleontological studies of Cretaceous vertebrate fossil beds in the Tataouine Basin (southern Tunisia). 2013. (All: Pages 20-29; Sarcosuchus: Pages 25-26, 28; Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and ornithopod: Pages 27-29):
http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/5240/1/Contessi_Michela_tesi.pdf
Ornithopods:
Fanti et al., (2016):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290084297_Evidence_of_iguanodontian_dinosaurs_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_of_Tunisia
Ibrahim et al., (2020) ("Dinosauria," "Ornithischia"):
https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/47517/element/7/0/deltadromeus/
Stomatosuchus:

https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2020/11/size-calculations-of-crocodyliformes.html

Elosuchus:

https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2020/11/size-calculations-of-crocodyliformes.html

Paralititan:
https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2018/12/size-calculations-for-herbivorous.html
Rebbachisaurus:
https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-vertebrate-paleontology/volume-35/issue-4/02724634.2014.1000701/Osteology-of-iRebbachisaurus-garasbae-i-Lavocat-1954-a-Diplodocoid-Dinosauria/10.1080/02724634.2014.1000701.short
OLPH 025 (Abelisaurid):
https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2018/10/calculations-for-largest-theropods.html
Spinosaurus:
https://psdinosaurs.blogspot.com/2017/09/spinosaurus-facts.html
Water:
Kristen Rogers (2020) ("Competing for food," p. 1):
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/world/spinosaurus-swimmer-discovery-scn/index.html
Carcharodontosaurus and Elosuchus Picture:
David Bonadonna:
http://www.davidebonadonna.it/project/342/
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)