Carcharodontosauridae

Carcharodontosaurids Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous,[1] 154–70Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Cast of a Carcharodontosaurus saharicus skull, Santa Barbara
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	†Carnosauria
Clade:	†Carcharodontosauria
Family:	†Carcharodontosauridae Stromer, 1931
Type species
†Megalosaurus saharicus Deperet & Savornin, 1925
Subgroups[2]
†Acrocanthosaurus †Concavenator †Eocarcharia †Kelmayisaurus[3] †Neovenator †Sauroniops †Shaochilong †Veterupristisaurus †Carcharodontosaurinae[4] †Carcharodontosaurus †Giganotosaurini †Giganotosaurus †Mapusaurus †Tyrannotitan

Carcharodontosaurids (from the Greek Carcharodontosauros: "shark-toothed lizards") were a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931 Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, in modern paleontology this name indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids included some of the largest land predators ever known: Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Tyrannotitan all rivaled or exceeded Tyrannosaurus in size.

Evolution

Giganotosaurus skeleton cast, Haifa

Along with the spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids were the largest predators in the early and middle Cretaceous throughout Gondwana, with species also present in North America (Acrocanthosaurus), and Asia (Shaochilong).^[5] Their ages range from the Barremian (127-121 million years ago) to the Turonian (93-89 million years ago). Past the Turonian, they might have been replaced by the smaller abelisaurids in Gondwana and by tyrannosaurids in North America and Asia. According to Fernando Novas and colleagues, the disappearance of not only carcharodontosaurids but also spinosaurids and other fauna in both Gondwana and North America seem to indicate that this faunal replacement occurred on a global scale.^[6] However, some theropod teeth discovered in late Maastrichtian Marília Formation in Brazil, as well as a fragment of right maxilla discovered at the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary of the Presidente Prudente Formation in Brazil, appear to belong to carcharodontosaurids, indicating the survival of this group until the latest Cretaceous.^[7][1] In December 2011, Oliver W. M. Rauhut described a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurid from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian to earliest Tithonian faunal stage, about 154-150 million years ago) of Tendaguru Formation, southeastern Tanzania. Veterupristisaurus represents the oldest known carcharodontosaurid.^[8]

Classification

The family Carcharodontosauridae was originally named by Ernst Stromer in 1931 to include the single newly discovered species Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. A close relative of C. saharicus, Giganotosaurus, was added to the family when it was described in 1995. Additionally, many paleontologists have included Acrocanthosaurus in this family (Sereno et al. 1996, Harris 1998, Holtz 2000, Rauhut 2003, Eddy & Clarke, 2011, Rauhut 2011), though others place it in the related family Allosauridae (Currie & Carpenter, 2000; Coria & Currie, 2002).

With the discovery of Mapusaurus in 2006, Rodolfo Coria and Phil Currie erected a subfamily of Carcharodontosauridae, the Giganotosaurinae, to contain the most advanced South American species, which they found to be more closely related to each other than to the African and European forms. Coria and Currie did not formally refer Tyrannotitan to this subfamily, pending a more detailed description of that genus, but noted that based on characteristics of the femur, it may be a giganotosaurine as well.^[9]

In 1998 Paul Sereno defined Carcharodontosauridae as a clade, consisting of Carcharodontosaurus and all species closer to it than to either Allosaurus, Sinraptor, Monolophosaurus, or Cryolophosaurus. Therefore, this clade is by definition outside of the clade Allosauridae. The cladogram below follows the analysis of Brusatte et al., 2009,^[5] although note that the placement of Neovenator has since been revised to outside of but near Carcharodontosauridae, in Neovenatoridae.^[10]

Cladogram after Ortega et al., 2010^[11]

Cladogram after Novas et al., 2013^[12]

Mounted Acrocanthosaurus skeleton (NCSM 14345) at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

The placement of Acrocanthosaurus is unclear, with most^[13] researchers favoring Carcharodontosauridae and others favoring Allosauridae. In 2011, a redescription of Kelmayisaurus by Stephen L. Brusatte, Roger B. J. Benson and Xing Xu found it to be valid genus of Carcharodontosauridae. A phylogenetic analysis of Tetanurae recovered K. petrolicus as a basal carcharodontosaurid in a trichotomy with Eocarcharia and a clade comprising more derived carcharodontosaurids.^[3] Bahariasaurus has also been proposed as a carcharodontosaurid, but its remains are too scarce to be certain. It appears to be synonymous with the ceratosaur Deltadromeus.

Carcharodontosaurids have been proposed as more closely related to abelisaurids, as opposed to the allosaurids. This is due to these two clades sharing some cranial features (see link below). However, these similarities appear to derive from parallel evolution between these two groups. A larger number of cranial and postcranial characters support their relationship with allosaurids.

References

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Carcharodontosauridae

• Carcharodontosauridae at Dinodata
• Carcharodontosaurid cranial anatomy at DinoData
• Carcharodontosauridae at Theropod Database
• Carcharodontosauridae/Abelisauridae
• Carcharodontosauridae/Abelisauridae 2