Genus
Valid Extinct

Giganotosaurus

Coria and Salgado 1995

Giganotosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 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 to "giant southern lizard", and the specific name honors the discoverer, Ruben 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.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
4
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Giganotosaurus
click to enlarge
Giganotosaurus skeleton mount at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia. © Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Allosauroidea Superfamily
Carcharodontosauridae Family
Giganotosaurus Genus
Fossil sites 4 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇦🇷 Argentina
4
Geological formations
Huincul
1
Temporal distribution
Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)
4
Species (1)
Giganotosaurus carolinii 101 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
R. A. Coria and L. Salgado. 1995. A new giant carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Patagonia. Nature 377:224-226 DOI ↗
Bibliography (3)
L. J. Pazo and S. Apesteguía. 2012. Nuevos restos craneanos de Carcharodontosauridae (Theropoda, Tetanurae) de “La Buitrera”: provincia de Río Negro, Argentina [New cranial remains of Carcharodontosauridae (Theropoda, Tetanurae) from “La Buitrera”: Río Negro province, Argentina]. XXVI Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados. I Jornadas Argentinas Técnicas en Paleontología de Vertebrados. Resúmenes. Ameghiniana 49(4 (suppl.)):R54-R55
J. O. Calvo. 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
R. A. Coria and L. Salgado. 1995. A new giant carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Patagonia. Nature 377:224-226 DOI ↗