Veterupristisaurus

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

Overview: This enigmatic theropod is only known from a handful of bones, specifically a few of the tail vertebrae. Due to this limited material, there’s a lot about it we don’t know for certain, though we can infer it grew to be decently large. Length estimates put it at eight to nine meters long, or even a bit longer, with a weight of at least a couple tons. Veterupristisaurus was probably a top predator in its environment, feeding on sauropods, stegosaurs and ornithopods. Features of its vertebrae do suggest it was an allosauroid, more specifically a member of the family Carcharodontosauridae. If accurate, then Veterupristisaurus is one of the earliest known members of the family, extending the lineage’s known range back into the Late Jurassic. Carcharodontosaurids would go on to become a major clade, dominating most regions around the world as apex predators. Some of them, such as Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, were among the largest theropods known to science.

If we work off of a possible carcharodontosaurid status, it may be possible to reconstruct what the animal would’ve looked like. Such dinosaurs tended to have strong jaws lined by blade-like teeth and short, but powerful arms. Veterupristisaurus probably sported three prominent claws on each of its hands. One vertebra preserves a fairly tall neural spine, so it’s possible that the creature had a low ridge of muscle running down its back and into the tail, similar to that of Acrocanthosaurus – one of its proposed relatives. Veterupristisaurus is known from Tanzania’s Tendaguru Formation, so it lived in a semi-arid and seasonal coastal region alongside dinosaurs such as Kentrosaurus, Giraffatitan, and Dicraeosaurus. Its fossils were first referred to Ceratosaurus in the 1920’s, but it was made its own genus in 2011. Veterupristisaurus means “ancient shark lizard”, referring to its potential status as a carcharodontosaur (“shark-toothed lizards”). Some see the taxon as a potentially dubious genus.