Concavenator

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Tetanurae > Avetheropoda > Carnosauria > Allosauroidea > Carcharodontosauria > Carcharodontosauridae (?)

Overview: Growing to be six or so meters in length, Concavenator was decently large, but far from the largest of the theropods. However, it was closely related to some true giants, including genera like Carcharodontosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Like those dinosaurs, Concavenator was a member of the allosauroid superfamily, within a subgroup called the Carcharodontosauria. These dinosaurs probably evolved during the Jurassic, though they would later emerge as the top predators in most regions around the world starting in the Early Cretaceous. Carcharodontosaurs would continue to occupy this niche until the latter half of the Late Cretaceous, when tyrannosaurids would take over in the northern hemisphere, while abelisaurids and megaraptorans did so in the south. Phylogenetic studies have found Concavenator to either be a basal member of the carcharodontosaurid family, or just outside said family, in the larger clade Carcharodontosauria. Its fossils, which are decently complete, are known from Spain’s La Huérguina Formation. Concavenator may’ve been one of the top predators of its environment, preying on Mantellisaurus or Pelecanimimus.

Concavenator was a medium-sized carcharodontosaur, though still powerfully built. It possessed a set of three clawed digits on each hand, set upon short, but strong arms. The creature’s teeth were blade-like and serrated, set into deep, pointed jaws. Its most distinctive and bizarre trait was a set of elongated neural spines atop its vertebrae, just over the hips, which probably supported a hump or fleshy crest. Concavenator may’ve evolved this trait as a display structure, or possibly to help it shed heat and regulate its body temperature. Bumps on its lower arm bones are thought by some to be “quill knobs”, or anchor points for feathers or bristles. Others suggest these were evidence of it having long “display scales” on its arms, or that they were merely muscle attachment points. It’s hard to say based on the fossils found thus far. Said fossils were first discovered in the early 2000’s, at the famous Las Hoyas fossil site, in the Spanish province of Cuenca. Formally described in 2010, the generic name of Concavenator means “Cuenca hunter” in Latin, while the specific name of the type species, Concavenator corcovatus, is Latin for “hunchbacked”.