| Description | Giganotosaurus (JY-gə-NOH-tə-SOR-əs) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 98 to 97 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993, and is almost 70% complete. The animal was named Giganotosaurus carolinii in 1995; the genus name translates as "giant southern lizard" and the specific name honors the discoverer, Rubén D. Carolini. A dentary bone, a tooth and some tracks, discovered before the holotype, were later assigned to this animal. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of theropod dinosaurs.
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| Source Data | |
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| Rank | genus |
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| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Dinosauria : Carcharodontosauridae : Giganotosaurus |
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| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Saurischia : Avetheropoda : Carcharodontosauridae : Giganotosaurus |
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| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted |
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Classification
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| Scientific Name | Giganotosaurus Coria & Salgado, 1995 |
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| Name Published In | Nature (Lond) 377 (6546), 21 September |
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| Opinions (PBDB) | | Name | Rank | Opinion | Evidence | Author |
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| Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Tetanurae | stated with evidence | Coria and Salgado, 1995 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Allosauroidea | stated without evidence | Holtz, 1996 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated with evidence | Sereno et al., 1996 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Larsson, 1996 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Tetanurae | stated without evidence | Novas, 1997 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Neotetanurae | stated without evidence | Coria, 1998 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Calvo, 1999 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Allosauridae | stated with evidence | Holtz, 2000 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Currie and Carpenter, 2000 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated with evidence | Holtz et al., 2004 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | implied | Candeiro and Martinelli, 2005 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Allain, 2005 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Giganotosaurinae | stated without evidence | Coria and Currie, 2006 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Brusatte and Sereno, 2007 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosaurinae | stated with evidence | Brusatte et al., 2009 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Candeiro and Harris, 2012 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosaurinae | stated with evidence | Carrano et al., 2012 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosaurinae | stated without evidence | Paulina Carabajal and Currie, 2012 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Furtado et al., 2013 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Giganotosaurini | stated with evidence | Canale et al., 2013 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated with evidence | Hendrickx and Mateus, 2014 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Carcharodontosauridae | stated without evidence | Sanz et al., 2014 | | Giganotosaurus | genus | belongs to Giganotosaurini | stated without evidence | Csiki-Sava et al., 2016 |
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| Status (PBDB) | extinct |
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| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 2 |
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| First Recorded Appearance | 99.6 - 93.5 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous |
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| Last Recorded Appearance | 99.6 - 93.5 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous |
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| Environment | terrestrial (based on Theropoda) |
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| Motility | actively mobile (based on Theropoda) |
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| Diet | carnivore (based on Carnosauria) |
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| Reproduction | oviparous, dispersal=direct/internal,mobile (based on Theropoda) |
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| Ontogeny | accretion,modification of parts (based on Theropoda) |
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| Taphonomy | hydroxylapatite,compact or dense (based on Theropoda) |
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| Primary Reference (PBDB) | R. A. Coria and L. Salgado. 1995. A new giant carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Patagonia. Nature 377:224-226 |
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| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giganotosaurus |
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| Coria R. A., Salgado L. (1995) A new giant carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Patagonia, Nature 377, 224-226 |
| Sereno P. C., Dutheil D. B., et al (1996) Predatory dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous faunal differentiation, Science 272, 986-991 |
| Sereno P. C. (1997) The origin and evolution of dinosaurs, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 25, 435-489 |
| Calvo J. O. (1999) Dinosaurs and other vertebrates of the Lake Ezequiel Ramos Mexía area, Neuquén-Patagonia, Argentina, Y. Tomida, T. H. Rich, and P. Vickers-Rich (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, National Science Museum Monographs 15, 13-45 |
| Currie P. J., Carpenter K. (2000) A new specimen of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous Antlers Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Aptian) of Oklahoma, USA, Geodiversitas 22 2, 207-246 |
| Lamanna M. C., Martínez R. D., et al (2002) A definitive abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 1, 59-69 |
| Rauhut O. W. M. (2003) The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs, Special Papers in Palaeontology 69, 1-213 |
| Holtz, Jr. T. R., Molnar R. E., et al (2004) Basal Tetanurae, The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley, 71-110 |
| Candeiro C. R. A., Martinelli A. G. (2005) Abelisauroidea and Carcharodontosauridae (Theropoda, Dinosauria) in the Cretaceous of South America. Paleogeographical and geochronological implications, Sociedade & Natureza, Uberlândia 17 33, 5-19 |
| Novas F. E., de Valais S., et al (2005) A large Cretaceous theropod from Patagonia, Argentina, and the evolution of carcharodontosaurids, Naturwissenschaften 92, 226-230 |
| Coria R. A., Currie P. J. (2006) A new carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina, Geodiversitas 28 1, 71-118 |
| Brusatte S., Sereno P. C. (2007) A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and a revision of the genus, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 4, 902-916 |
| Sereno P. C., Martínez R. N., et al (2008) Evidence for avian intrathoracic air sacs in a new predatory dinosaur from Argentina, PLoS ONE 3 9, e3303:1-20 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003303 |
| Brusatte S. L., Benson R. B. J., et al (2009) The first definitive carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Asia and the delayed ascent of tyrannosaurids, Naturwissenschaften 96, 1051-1058 |
| Candeiro C. R. A., Currie P. J., et al (2012) Theropod teeth from the Marília Formation (late Maastrichtian) at the paleontological site of Peirópolis in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, Revista Brasileira de Geosciências 42 2, 323-330 |
| Candeiro C. R. A., Harris J. D. (2012) The tetrapod fauna of the Marília Formation (Bauru Group) at Peirópolis (Minas Gerais, Brazil): correlation with other Late Cretaceous Patagonian faunas, Revue de Paléobiology 31 1, 71-84 |
| Carrano M. T., Benson R. B. J., et al (2012) The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10 2, 211-300 doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927 |
| Canale J. I., Novas F. E., et al (2013) Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannotitan chubutensis Novas, de Valais, Vickers-Rich and Rich, 2005 (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina, Historical Biology doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2013.861830 |
| Furtado M. R., Candeiro C. R. A., et al (2013) Teeth of Abelisauridae and Carcharodontosauridae cf. (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from the Campanian- Maastrichtian Presidente Prudente Formation (southwestern São Paulo State, Brazil), Estudios Geológicos 69 1, 105-114 doi:10.3989/egeol.40829.170 |
| Hendrickx C., Mateus O. (2014) Abelisauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal and dentition-based phylogeny as a contribution for the indentification of isolated theropod teeth, Zootaxa 3759 1, 1-74 |
| Sanz J. L., Ortega F., et al (2014) , Dinosaurios Maravillosos de España [Marvelous Dinosaurs from Spain], 1-155 |
| Csiki-Sava Z., Brusatte S. L., et al (2016) “Megalosaurus cf. superbus” from southeastern Romania: the oldest known Cretaceous carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for earliest Cretaceous Europe-Gondwana connections, Cretaceous Research 60, 221-238 doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.004 |
| Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Nature (Lond) 377 (6546), 21 September - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
Giganotosaurus ✝
