Eocarcharia (lat.) - a genus of dinosaurs from the family of carcharodontosaurus (Carcharodontosauridae), who lived during the Lower Cretaceous era ( 125.0-100.5 million years ago) in the territory of modern Niger [1] . A typical and only species is Eocarcharia dinops [2] .
| † Eocarcharia |
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| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Infraclass : | Archosauromorphs |
| No rank : | Archosauriformes |
| Superfamily : | † Allosaurus |
| Family: | † Carcharodontosaurus |
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| International scientific name |
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Eocarcharia Sereno et al. , 2008 |
| Single view |
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| † Eocarcharia dinops Sereno et al. , 2008 |
Geochronology125.0-100.5 Ma | million years | Period | Era | Aeon |
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| 2,588 | Even | | | Ka | F
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th | | 23.03 | Neogene | | 66.0 | Paleogen | | 145.5 | a piece of chalk | M
e
s
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th | | 199.6 | Yura | | 251 | Triassic | | 299 | Permian | P
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e
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th | | 359.2 | Carbon | | 416 | Devonian | | 443.7 | Silur | | 488.3 | Ordovician | | 542 | Cambrian | | 4570 | Precambrian |
◄ Nowadays◄ Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction◄ Triassic extinction◄ Mass Permian Extinction◄ Devonian extinction◄ Ordovician-Silurian extinction◄ Cambrian explosion |
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The remains of Eocarcharia were found in 2000 by an expedition from the University of Chicago led by Paul Sereno . The type species Eocarcharia dinops was described by him together with Stephen Brusatte in 2007, and the scientific description was published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica in 2008. The generic name literally means “early shark,” according to researchers, referring to the basal position of the species within the family Carcharodontosauridae, where the eponym Carcharodontosaurus is “shark-toothed lizard”. The species name means “terrible muzzle” or “ferocious eyes”, referring to the large ridge of bone above the orbit.
The holotype MNN GAD2 consists of the frontal and postorbital parts of the skull. Many other fragments of the skull probably belong to other individuals of this species. The find was made in the Elrhaz formation ( apt - alb ) near the village of Gadoufaoua in the Tener region, where other species of dinosaurs were also found: Suchomimus and Kryptops .
The exact size of Eocarcharia is uncertain due to the lack of sufficient fossil material other than the skull, but Sereno estimates the size of the dinosaur - up to 8-12 meters in length. He also places the genus Eocarcharia in the cemetery in the basal position of the family Carcharodontosauridae , indicating a close resemblance to the acrocanthosaurus .
