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 Albian age of the Early Cretaceous period, approximately 111 to 106 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
Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
›
Theropoda Unranked clade
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Neotheropoda Unranked clade
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Averostra Unranked clade
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Tetanurae Unranked clade
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Allosauroidea Superfamily
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Carcharodontosauridae Family
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Giganotosaurus Genus
Measurements
Height
5,49 m ⓘ
Length
13 m ⓘ
Mass
13 800 kg ⓘ
Fossil sites 4 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇦🇷 Argentina
4
Geological formations
Huincul
1
Temporal distribution
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
4
Species (1)
Giganotosaurus carolinii 113 Ma
Images 4
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 ↗