Tyrannotitan

Tyrannotitan (Greek for "tyrant titan") was a large theropod that lived in South America during the Early Cretaceous period. It is closely related to other gigantic, carnivorous carcharodontosaurid theropods such as Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus, and Giganotosaurus.

Discovery[]

Tyrannotitan remains 01 — Known remains (in yellow)

Fosiles Tyrannotitan 01 — Vertebra and ischium

T. chubutensis was named by Fernando E. Novas, Silvina de Valais, Pat Vickers-Rich and Tom Rich (2005). It was discovered from the La Juanita Farm from Argentina. This is probably from the Cerro Castaño Member of the Cerro Barcino Formation. MPEF-PV 1156 is the holotype, including partial dentaries, dorsals 3-8 and 11-14, proximal caudals, ribs, a frgmentary scapulocoracoid, humerus, ulna, ilia, a somewhat incomplete femur, ribula and left metatarsal. MPEF-PV 1157 consists of jugals, a right dentary, teeth, atlas, cervical 9, dorsals 7, 10 and 13, 5 sacral centra, distal caudals, ribs, the right femur, a partial left metatarsal 2 and pedal phalanges 2-1, 2-2 and 3-3.

The species and genus estimated to be 11.4 to 12.2 meters long, but G.S. Paul (2010) estimated the total length up to 13 meters. It has been estimated to have been 4.9 to 7 tonnes, whereas other paleontologists have estimated around 4.8 to 5.4 tons and an overall range of 3.6 to 6.7 tons. This makes it one of the largest theropods and terrestrial carnivorous animals to have lived.

Fernado named it Tyrannotitan, which means "Tyrant Titan". This monstrously large theropod has also shed new light on the evolution of later carcharodontosaurids, and how they started to become a bit more tyrannosaurid-like in anatomy.

Description[]

Tyrannotitan Scale — Estimated size, compared to a human.

Tyrannotitan is the oldest known giant carcharodontosaurid alongside Acrocanthosaurus, both from the Aptian

Biology[]

Even though so little of the animal was found, paleontologists were able to work out that this was a big carcharodontosaurid, growing to be 12.2 meters (40 feet) long or more. Its teeth were thicker than those of its relatives, somewhat similar to those seen in tyrannosaurid dinosaurs, and even had short arms like they do.

The spine was curved much like a tyrannosaurid, and it's tail was relatively long and powerful (some individuals theorize that it might be designed for swimming) and likely counter-acted the heavy skull to help keep it balanced and from falling over onto its face. It arguably ranks among the largest of all, similar in size some of the other contenders for the largest carnivorous dinosaur title. (Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus.

Apart from that, most information about the animal is unknown. However, based upon its close relatives like Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Sauroniops, we can tell that it had a large, probably narrow head that held about 60 teeth in its jaws that were designed to tear through the flesh of it's main prey item; sauropods. It also had long, powerful back legs that were probably capable of running up to 20 mph (32 kmph) (or possibly aid it greatly in swimming if proven to be true). It is unknown if it had any semi-aquatic tendencies.

Tyrannotitan

Contents

Discovery[]

Description[]

Biology[]

Appearance in other media[]

Jurassic Park[]

References[]