Carcharodontosaurus

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Tetanurae > Avetheropoda > Carnosauria > Allosauroidea > Carcharodontosauria > Carcharodontosauridae > Carcharodontosaurinae

Overview: In the 1920’s, French paleontologists would describe a handful of unique theropod teeth found in what is now Algeria. They were referred to the genus Megalosaurus, thought to represent a new species called Megalosaurus saharicus. Megalosaurus, of course, was often used as what is known as a “wastebasket taxon”. That is to say, theropods of uncertain classification were often arbitrarily classified as species of Megalosaurus. Fossils found around a decade prior, in Egypt, later changed this consensus. Said fossils consisted of a partial skeleton, unearthed from the rock layers of the Bahariya Formation. German paleontologist Ernst Stromer would describe these specimens, but not until 1931. Stromer found the teeth of the Egyptian specimen to be similar to those found in Algeria, determining them to not only be from the same animal, but from a genus fully separate from Megalosaurus. Stromer officially established it as such under the name Carcharodontosaurus. Carcharodontosaurus, the “shark-toothed lizard”, derives part of its generic name from that of the shark genus Carcharodon, to which the modern great white (Carcharodon carcharias) belongs.

The teeth studied by Stromer were slightly straighter than those of most theropods and possessed shark-like serrations, inspiring its name. Stromer’s Egyptian material consisted of some limb bones, a few vertebrae, part of the skull, and of course some teeth. Unfortunately, this specimen would be destroyed by a bombing raid over Munich in World War II, so Carcharodontosaurus would become a fairly obscure dinosaur. Then, in the 1990’s, a nearly complete skull was found by the renowned American paleontologist Paul C. Sereno, in the Kem Kem Beds (Douira Formation) of Morocco. In 2007, said skull was made the new type specimen for the genus Carcharodontosaurus. However, in recent years, differences between Sereno’s skull and Stromer’s partial skull material in photographs were noted. In 2025, Tameryraptor was established as a genus for Stromer’s specimen. It seems to have been a closely related, but smaller theropod, possibly having a small horn or crest on its snout (observable in the aforementioned photos). This may push the range of Carcharodontosaurus itself mainly towards the western part of North Africa, though we can’t be sure it didn’t live in Egypt too.

Carcharodontosaurus and Tameryraptor both belonged to the family Carcharodontosauridae, with the former probably being more derived than the latter. Specifically, Carcharodontosaurus belongs to the subfamily Carcharodontosaurinae, which made it close to Giganotosaurus, considered to be one of the largest theropods known to science. Carcharodontosaurus itself was no slouch in terms of size, with an estimated length of between twelve and thirteen meters, putting it in the same size range as both Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. The latter, of course, was a coelurosaur, so not a close relative of either Carcharodontosaurus or Giganotosaurus, which were both allosauroids. The skull of this animal alone was as long or possibly slightly longer than that of Tyrannosaurus, but was less robustly built. Rather than delivering bone crushing bites, Carcharodontosaurus would strip away flesh from large sauropods to bleed them out. Notably, this animal coexisted with other large theropods like Spinosaurus, though the two most likely occupied different predator niches. There is a second possible species, C. iguidensis, but many now think it was probably a separate genus.