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1. INDIVIDUALS HAD SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FRILL SPIKES.

Also known as “parietal horns,” the relative size of these pointy structures varied noticeably between Styracosaurus specimens.

2. STYRACOSAURUS PROBABLY USED A DIFFERENT FIGHTING STYLE THAN TRICERATOPSDID.

“Possibly Centrosaurus wasn’t using its horns for fighting,” says Dr. Andrew Farke (who helped execute this study), “or, if it was fighting, it was concentrating its energies on parts away from the skull, like maybe flank-butting or something like that.”

3. STYRACOSAURUS APPEARS IN THE WEIRDEST WESTERN EVER MADE.

Cowboys wrangle stop-motion dinosaurs in Ray Harryhausen’s epic creature feature The Valley of Gwangi (1969).  At one point, predatory “Gwangi” (whose design was loosely based on T. rex and Allosaurus) takes down an enraged Styracosauruswith some help from a spear-toting horseman.

4. …BUT WAS CUT FROM KING KONG (1933).

Though animator Willis O’Brien had shot a thrilling action sequence with his poseable Styracosaurus model, this scene wound up getting scrapped. Fortunately, when the hasty sequel Son of Kong (1933) was churned out less than a year later, “Obie’s” Styracosaurus finally secured some screen time.

5. SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN DIVVYING UP STYRACOSAURUS.

6. STYRACOSAURUS’ NOSE HORN WAS SHORTER THAN MOST PEOPLE THINK.

When studying fossils for a living, incomplete specimens can be the bane of your existence, and Styracosaurus’ distinctive nose horn falls into this category: Most of what we know about this nasal apparatus is based on fragmentary fossils. Though it’s traditionally been assumed to have been around 20 inches long, a closer examination reveals that the horn was around half that length (and possibly blunt-tipped).

7. SOME HAVE SAID THAT STYRACOSAURUS HAD ABSURDLY-HUGE JAW MUSCLES.

The flashy frills of ceratopsians (horned dinos like Styracosaurus and Triceratops) have inspired much debate over the years. Paleontologists Richard Swann Lull and John McLoughlin independently proposed a radical explanation about their function: Perhaps these huge, bony structures were nothing but attachment anchors for the creatures’ (presumably gigantic) jaw muscles. This idea holds that the frill was buried in flesh and bound to the dinosaurs’ necks and shoulders.

Today, most experts currently believe these frills were predominantly display-oriented features. However, there’s no doubt that ceratopsians packed some powerful bites; for more info, check out this entertaining write-up.

8. STYRACOSAURUS BELONGED TO A SUPER-ORNAMENTED SUBFAMILY.

The centrosaurinae is a group of ceratopsians whose members lacked large horns above their eyes, had pronounced nose horns instead, and rocked short, well-decorated frills.

9. CRUSHED SKULLS DISTORTED MANY EARLY STYRACOSAURUSILLUSTRATIONS.

Fossilization can be a cruel mistress. One of the world’s most complete Styracosaurus skulls contains a crucial flaw: Its frill has been artificially bent by the elements. This specimen was unearthed in the 1910s and helped scientists understand what the strange animal looked like. Several academic paintings and sketches would be based upon this magnificent fossil. But, unfortunately, geological forces had, over time, unnaturally crushed the dinosaur’s frill, forcing it downward and making the apparatus appear as though it jetted out directly behind Styracosaurus’ skull. Thanks to a second skull that turned up later, we now know that this frill was held at a more upwards angle.

10. IT’S NAMED AFTER ANCIENT GREEK SPEAR SHAFTS.

The steel spike at the end of a spear was known as a styrax in classical Greece, this term wound up inspiring the first part of Styracosaurus’ genus name.

Source: www.mentalfloss.com

An up-and-comer in the elite club of huge, terrifying, meat-eating dinosaurs, Giganotosaurus has lately been attracting almost as much press as Tyrannosaurus rex and Spinosaurus. On the following article, you’ll discover 10 fascinating Giganotosaurus facts–and why, pound for pound, the Giant Southern Lizard may have been even more fearsome than its better-known relatives.

Basically this is a list of the 10 most extraordinary predatory creatures of our Earth's distant past...

1) Tyrannosaurus rex

Tyrannosaurus rex (“tie-RAN-a-SORE-uss rex”) needs no introduction; its reputation as the ultimate carnivore and most badass dinosaur ever to roam the Earth precedes it. Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex for short) literally means “tyrant lizard king”, and there can be no doubt that it lived up to its name.

Tyrannotitan is a genus of huge bipedal carnivorous dinosaur of the carcharodontosaurid family from the Aptian stage of the early Cretaceous period, discovered in Argentina. It is closely related to other giant predators like Carcharodontosaurus and especially Giganotosaurus as well as Mapusaurus. The name means “Tyrant titan”.

Tyrannotitan is the geologically oldest known giant carcharodontosaurid along with the more basal Acrocanthosaurus from North America (both found in Aptian-age rocks). Unlike known carcharodontosaurids, this animal lacks pneumaticity extending into the sacral and caudal centra. The scapulocoracoid is fused, and much better developed than that of Giganotosaurus carolinii, yet the arm is very small. Most of the shaft of the scapula is missing.

Tyrannotitan chubutensis was described by Fernando E. Novas, Silvina de Valais, Pat Vickers-Rich, and Tom Rich in 2005. The fossils were found at La Juanita Farm, 28 kilometres (17 mi) northeast of Paso de Indios, Chubut Province, Argentina. They are believed to have been from the Cerro Castaño Member, Cerro Barcino Formation (Aptian stage) around 112.2 – 121 million years ago.

One key area of difference between Tyrannotitan and the other currently known carcharodontosaurids is the lack of pneumaticity in the sacral‭ (‬hip‭) ‬and caudal‭ (‬tail‭) ‬vertebrae.‭ ‬This essentially means that there are no air pockets that could have reduced weight resulting in a solid but heavier skeleton.‭ ‬Interestingly connected to this observation is the fact that a caudal vertebra of Tyrannotitan has a neural spine‭ (‬the projection top of the vertebra‭) ‬twice the height of the centrum,‭ ‬the main body of the vertebral bone that articulates with the other vertebra.‭ ‬The dorsal‭ (‬back‭) ‬and cervical‭ (‬neck‭) ‬vertebra do not display neural spines this high,‭ ‬and with this in mind the tail vertebrae may have had them to support a stronger muscle network that was required to carry the tail high and off the ground in the absence of weight saving features such as pneumaticity.

Tyrannotitan teeth do not seem to be as well developed as those of others of its group such as those seen in Carcharadontosaurus.‭ ‬Tyrannotitan teeth lack the clear curves that facilitate slicing however the general shape makes them part way similar to the teeth of allosaurids like Allosaurus itself.‭ ‬Given that the carcharodontosaurid theropods are thought to be descended from allosaurid theropods,‭ ‬the teeth of Tyrannotitan may represent a transitional form of the teeth from one changing into another.

The length of these animals has been estimated at up to 11.4–12.2 metres (37–40 ft). In 2010, Gregory S. Paul gave higher estimations of 13 metres (43 ft). Its weight has been estimated between 4.9 and 7 tonnes (5.4 and 7.7 short tons).

Shaochilong (meaning “shark toothed dragon”) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the mid Cretaceous (Turonian stage) Ulansuhai Formation of China (about 92 million years ago). The type species, S. maortuensis, was originally named Chilantaisaurus maortuensis, but was re-described and reclassified in 2009.

Phylogenetic analysis performed by Brusatte and coworkers indicate that Shaochilong is deeply nested within the carchorodontosaurids, the most derived group among the allosauroids. Shaochilong appears to be more closely related to the Gondwanan carcharodontosaurids (Tyrannotitan, Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus, Giganotosaurus) than the Laurasian ones (such as Neovenator and Acrocanthosaurus). Shaochilong is the youngest known Laurasian allosauroid suggesting that basal tetanurans not tyrannosaurids, were still the dominant group of large-bodied theropods in Laurasian during the Mid-Cretaceous and that the rise of tyrannosaurids as the dominant group of large terrestrial predators was sudden and confined to the very end of the Cretaceous.

The fragmentary nature of Shaochilong resulted in it being included into the Chilantaisaurus genus,‭ ‬a theropod dinosaur also from the Ulansuhai Formation.‭ ‬However while fragmentary,‭ ‬the fossil remains for C.‭ ‬maortuensis were much larger that the estimated length of two and a half meters for other Chilantaisaurus material.‭ ‬Questions were first raised‭ ‬about its validity in‭ ‬2001,‭ ‬thirty seven years after the initial description which placed the material within the Chilantaisaurus genus.‭ ‬In‭ ‬2009‭ ‬Brusatte et al.‭ ‬confirmed that the material was actually of a carcharodontosaurid dinosaur,‭ ‬a very significant discovery in itself as this was the first theropod of its kind known from Asia.‭

The material was‭ ‬renamed Shaochilong which translates to‭ ‬English as‭ ‘‬shark toothed dragon‭’‬,‭ ‬a reference to the shape of its teeth‭ (‬the carcharodontisaurid group is so named after the‭ ‬Carcharodon shark genus which include the great white shark‭) ‬combined with‭ ‘‬long‭’‬,‭ ‬a term that is increasingly used refer to dinosaurs from Asia just as the ancient Greek‭ ‘‬saurus‭’ ‬is used to describe dinosaurs in the Western World.‭ ‬The species name S.‭ ‬maortuensis is derived from the original classification of the Shaochilong material Chilantaisaurus,‭ ‬something which is standard procedure when splitting a species from an established genus into its own new genus.

Even though Shaochilong and Chilantaisaurus are now in their own separate genera,‭ ‬they are still‭ ‬related to one another,‭ ‬kind of like distant cousins.‭ ‬Their presence in the same fossil Formation also indicates that they were probably active at the same time and location as one another.

Sauroniops is a genus of predatory basal carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage) of Morocco.

Sauroniops was a very large, bipedal theropod. It likely evolved from the Jurassic, North American Allosaurus, a large and deadly predator on its own. Being one of the largest land predators yet discovered, it grew to be 40 feet (12 meters) long, 17 feet (5.2 meters) tall, and 6 tons in weight. Although little is known or has been discovered about it, we can also get a pretty good picture of what Sauroniops was like from its carcharodontosaurian cousins, like its African relatives Carcharodontosaurus, Bahariasaurus, and Deltadromeus, and its South American relatives Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, and Tyrannotitan.

In the early twenty-first century a collector donated a dinosaur skull bone to the Italian Museo Paleontologico di Montevarchi. He had acquired the specimen from a Moroccan fossil dealer, who again had bought the piece from local fossil hunters near Taouz. Its exact provenance is therefore uncertain. Later research showed that it presented a new species that was in 2012 reported and described by Andrea Cau, Marco Dalla Vecchia and Matteo Fabbri.

The same year, 2012, the specimen was by the same authors formally named in a subsequent publication as the type species Sauroniops pachytholus. The generic name has the intended meaning of “Eye of Sauron”, a demonic entity from the Lord of the Rings fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, combining its name with a Classical Greek ὄψ, ops, “eye”. Like in the novels the corporeal presence of Sauron had largely been limited to a single searching eye, Sauroniops is only known from a single bone above the eye socket. The specific name is derived from Greek παχύς, pachys, “thick”, and θόλος, tholos, “round building with conical roof”, in reference to the thick vaulted skull roof.

The holotype, specimen MPM 2594, had probably been recovered from the Kem Kem Beds dating from the Cenomanian. It consists of a left frontal bone.

It had a large head, possibly over 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, and like its carnosaurian cousins, had long, bladelike teeth that were perfectly designed for piercing flesh.  It had two long, powerful back legs with taloned feet and somewhat short arms with three clawed hands. It also had a long, extending tail that would’ve greatly helped balance out its massive head. One feature that sets Sauroniops apart from its relatives is that it had bumps and knobs on its head that may have been used for head-butting for fighting over mates and territory. Like its other cousin, Carcharodontosaurus, it was an apex predator in Africa, and would likely have eaten anything it could catch and kill, including the hadrosaur Ouranosaurus and the sauropod Paralititan. It likely competed for territory with rivals and possibly even other large predators like Carcharodontosaurus, Deltadromeus, Bahariasaurus, Spinosaurus, and maybe even the giant crocodile Sarcosuchus.

Veterupristisaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, southeastern Tanzania.

Veterupristisaurus is known from the holotype specimen MB R 1938, an isolated middle caudal vertebra. Two partially fused posterior middle caudal vertebrae, MB R 2166, from the same locality as the holotype, are referred to this genus and most probably came from the same individual. The anterior caudal vertebra, MB R 1940, may also represent this genus. The holotype was collected in the St (EH) locality of the Tendaguru in German East Africa, from the Middle Dinosaur Member of the Tendaguru Formation, dating to the late Kimmeridgian to earliest Tithonian faunal stage of the Late Jurassic, about 154-150 million years ago. It was originally referred to Ceratosaurus? roechlingi by Werner Janensch.

Veterupristisaurus was a large bipedal animal. The length of the holotype vertebra is about 123 mm (4.8 in), thus Veterupristisaurus has been estimated to have been about 8.5 m (28 ft)-10 m (33 ft) in length, based on the more complete and closely related Acrocanthosaurus. Whether the individual represented by the holotype represents an adult individual cannot be determined based on the available material. It is diagnosed by a spinoprezygapophyseal lamina in the middle caudal vertebrae extending anteriorly to the midwidth of the base of the prezygapophysis and being flanked laterally by a short, parallel lamina extending from the lateral margin of the prezygapophysis posteriorly. Thus, Rauhut considered a sister-group relationship between Veterupristisaurus and Acrocanthosaurus within the Carcharodontosauridae.

Veterupristisaurus was first named by Oliver W. M. Rauhut in 2011 and the type species is Veterupristisaurus milneri. The generic name translates as “old shark lizard”. It refers to the fact that Veterupristisaurus is currently the oldest known representative of the “shark-toothed lizards”, the Carcharodontosauridae. The specific name honours the paleontologist Angela C. Milner.

Kelmayisaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous. It was roughly 9-11 meters (30-36 feet) Its name refers to the petroleum-producing city of Karamay in the Xinjiang province of western China near where it was found.

Kelmayisaurus is known from the holotype and only specimen IVPP V 4022. It consists of a complete left dentary (lower jaw with teeth) and partial left maxilla. The specimen was found in the Lianmugin Formation of the Tugulu Group, dating to the Valanginian-Albian stages, around 140 to 100 million years ago. The discovery locality is near Wuerho in the Junggar Basin. It was first named and described by Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming in 1973 and the type species is Kelmayisaurus petrolicus. A supposed second species, K. “gigantus”, was mentioned by Grady in a children book in 1993 as a gigantic vertebral column coming from a 22 m long specimen, but is a nomen nudum and probably does not pertain to Kelmayisaurus. It may be a sauropod instead.

Kelmayisaurus has been thought to be a nomen dubium due to its scanty remains, and its phylogenetic position was uncertain. It has usually been regarded as a basal tetanuran of uncertain affinities. However, Kelmayisaurus is diagnosable by the form and presence of a deeply inset accessory groove on the lateral side of the dentary, the main toothbearing bone of the lower jaw. Some of its features are like those of carcharodontosaurians, but they are also seen in large megalosauroids like Megalosaurus and Torvosaurus.

In 2011, a redescription of the holotype by Stephen L. Brusatte, Roger B. J. Benson and Xing Xu found Kelmayisaurus to be valid genus of Carcharodontosauridae with a single autapomorphy. A phylogenetic analysis of Tetanurae recovered K. petrolicus as a basal carcharodontosaurid in a trichotomy with Eocarcharia and a clade comprising more derived carcharodontosaurids.

Eocarcharia (meaning “dawn shark”) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The type and only species is Eocarcharia dinops. Its teeth were shaped like blades and were used for disabling live prey and ripping apart body parts. Eocarcharia’s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare (leading to the specific name dinops or “fierce-eyed”). It may have reached lengths of 6–8 m (19.7–26.2 ft).

‬Although only known from incomplete remains Eocarcharia has been identified as being a member of the Carcharodontosauridae,‭ ‬a group of theropod dinosaurs established around the type genus of Carcharodontosaurus,‭ ‬another dinosaur named for its tooth resemblance to a sharks.‭

In the Elrhaz Formation, dinosaurs that lived with Eocarcharia include theropods Kryptops palaios and Suchomimus tenerensis, sauropod Nigersaurus taqueti, and ornithopods Ouranosaurus nigeriensis, Lurdusaurus arenatus, and Elrhazosaurus nigeriensis.