Re: Questions: Giant Allosauroids and

["Jaime Headden" <jaemei@hotmail.com>]

>Hmmm... So now we have:
>
>-Acrocanthosaurus atokensis
>-Allosaurus (Epantarias?  Saurophagus?) amplexus
>-Giganotosaurus carolinii
>-Carcharodontosaurus saharicus
>
>and possibly:
>
>-Bahariasaurus ingens

You forgot the Tendaguru allosaur and *Chilantaisaurus*, both which may 
have exceeded 35ft.

>All giant, multiton Allosaur-like animals.  How do these guys fit 
>togther? Does anyone know for sure?

My theory was posted a few days ago, though I am no expert. Tom Holtz 
can help, I'm sure, as may a few others, but if we could get Phil Currie 
on the list . . .

>And just what exactly is "Big Ed"?  When was it discovered?
>
>Also, seeing the reconstruction of Giganotosaurus, the body doesn't 
>seem that much bigger than Carcharodontosaurus, but--that thing has a 
>freakin' oversized head!

Well, there are differences, but *Carcharodontosaurus* is based on 
remains that are very meager and have less length-indicative pieces as 
vertebrae, though the femur does help. Size is estimable.

>On a similar note I'd be interested to know what exactly the top 
>carnivores were at the end of the Cretaceous in South America, Africa 
>and Australia. As well as in Europe and the eastern part of North 
>America, and just how big they got.

South America:
--------------
*Abelisaurus comahuensis* Bonaparte & Novas, 1985 / ~30ft -- estimate on 
skull.

The only other one that comes close is ~25ft *Megaraptor namunquahuii*  
Novas, 1996 [?] or *Unenlagia comahuensis* [?] ~10-15ft and possibly 
juvenile of *Megaraptor* as has been proposed, where *Unenlagia* would 
have priority; but these occured in the Turonian/Santonian.

Africa:
-------
This continent seems devoid of latest Cretaceous archpredators, with 
*Deltadromeus*, *Carcharodontosaurus*, and *Spinsaurus* all occuring 
earlier than the Maastrichtian, and then there's that "Allosaurus 
tendagurensis" from Tanzania's Tendaguru Hill, but he's from a lot 
earlier than any of the others.

Australia:
----------
The youngest bones from Australia refer to *Austrosaurus* sp. of 
Cenomanian bend, but otherwise *Rapator* and the astragalus refered to 
as "Allosaurus sp." are of Victorian Valanginian-Albian age, and thus to 
not qualify.

All listed above are the sizeable fossils, and I will state that my 
source was _Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs_ [Currie & Padian, 1997] for most 
of this info.

Jaime A. Headden

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