Acrocanthosaurus

Acrocanthosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs that existed in what is now North America during the Barremian and early Cenomanian stages of the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous, from 125 to 99.6 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. It had a continent-wide range, with fossil remains known from the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming in the west and Maryland in the east. However, most of these remains are assigned to the species based on the assumption that Acrocanthosaurus is the only large carcharodontosaurid from North America during this time, and the possibility exists that some referred specimens could represent distinct taxa.

A picture published with the record for Acrocanthosaurus.

Famille Wielosz-Caron · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CarcharodontosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
11.5 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 6.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 106.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 12 of 14 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 2 of 14 occurrencesLate Cretaceous122–121 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences117–116 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences111–111 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences107–106 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences106–105 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113.2 Mya106.3 Mya122 Mya93.3 Mya

14 occurrences of Acrocanthosaurus on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Antlers — 33.90°N, 94.83°WAntlers — 34.18°N, 95.81°WCloverly — 44.98°N, 108.32°WArundel Clay — 39.07°N, 76.87°WTwin Mountains — 32.75°N, 97.78°WTurney Ranch — 31.81°N, 110.42°WCedar Mountain — 39.18°N, 110.11°WHolly Creek — 34.09°N, 93.88°W

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The named rock units Acrocanthosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Acrocanthosaurus and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Acrocanthosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

101 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Acrocanthosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

11 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Acrocanthosaurus

Credit
Famille Wielosz-Caron
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCarcharodontosauridae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stovall and Langston 1950