Mapusaurus roseae

[gigadino96]

Mapusaurus was a giant South American meat-eating dinosaur with blade-like teeth for slicing off chunks of sauropod flesh. At over ten metres long Mapusaurus was similar in size to the closely related Giganotosaurus. Fossils from at least seven individuals of various ages were discovered in a bone bed in Argentina. This may suggest they worked in groups to take down the large sauropods of the time, such as the colossal Argentinosaurus, something a single Mapusaurus may not have been able to accomplish alone. Alternatively this group find may represent a simple predator-trap.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Mapusaurus

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Name: Mapusaurus roseae
Size: ~ 12.5-13.6 meters long
Mass: ~7-8.5 tons
When: Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian-Turonian, 95-89 milion years ago
Where: South America
Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Reptilia, Saurischia, Carcharodontosauridae, Giganotosaurinae, Mapusaurus, Mapusaurus rosae

Mapusaurus rosae is a kind of Theropod lived on Earth in the Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian in, in what is now South America. It is considered as one of the largest known land predators, with the largest specimens comparable to Giganotosaurus in size.  Unlike many of his relatives, has been known for some fairly complete skeletons, most of them belonging to young animals. Given its similarity to Giganotosaurus, the two animals were enclosed in the same subfamily, the Giganotosaurinae. An interesting aspect of this dinosaur is hunting in a group, in fact the first discovery which covered the remains of these animals comprised 7 skeletons, all belonging to youngs. From this it was assumed that this animal hunted in packs, though some paleontologist are against this hypothesis (http://theropoda.blogspot.it/2009/05/miti-...rne-sui_26.html). The his remains have come to light in the formation Huincul, layers of rock dating back to the Cenomanian.

[creature386]

Palaeopathological Survey of a Population of Mapusaurus (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation, Argentina

Paleoepidemiology (the study of disease and trauma in prehistoric populations) provides insight into the distribution of disease and can have implications for interpreting behavior in extinct organisms. A monospecific bonebed of the giant carcharodontosaurid Mapusaurus (minimum number of individuals = 9) from the Cañadón del Gato site, Neuquén Province, Argentina (Cenomanian) provides a rare opportunity to investigate disease within a single population of this important apex predator. Visual inspection of 176 skeletal elements belonging to a minimum of nine individuals yielded a small number of abnormalities on a cervical vertebra, two ribs, pedal phalanx, and an ilium. These are attributed to traumatic (two cases), infectious (two cases) and anomalous (one case) conditions in a minimum of one individual. The emerging picture for large theropod (abelisaurids, allosaurids, carcharodontosaurids, tyrannosaurids) populations suggests that 1) osseous abnormalities were relatively rare (7–19% of individuals) but consistently present, and 2) trauma was a leading factor in the frequency of pathological occurrences, evidence of an active, often perilous lifestyle.

Reference: Bell PR, Coria RA (2013) Palaeopathological Survey of a Population of Mapusaurus (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation, Argentina. In: PLoS ONE 8(5): e63409. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063409

Full read: www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0063409

[gigadino96]

Heterochrony in Carcharodontosauridae: translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//theropoda.blogspot.it/2014/10/eterocronia-in-carcharodontosauridae.html&hl=en&langpair=it|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8

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Cranial ontogenetic variation in Mapusaurus roseae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and the probable role of heterochrony in carcharodontosaurid evolution

The carcharodontosaurid theropod Mapusaurus roseae (Cenomanian of Neuquén Province, Argentina) is represented by at least seven disarticulated individuals from a monospecific bonebed, all of different sizes and presumably different stages of maturity. We report a series of anatomical differences between repeated skull bones of Mapusaurus, which we interpret as produced by peramorphic heterochronic processes. The materials analyzed include maxillae, lacrimals, dentaries, and isolated teeth. Most of the differences were recorded in the maxilla, the most noticeable change being the reduction of the pneumaticity. We found that some of the synapomorphic characters of derived carcharodontosaurids appear to be the result of peramorphic heterochronies, as in the strongly ornamented facial bones, and the single opening in the anteroventral corner of the antorbital fossa in the maxilla.

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12542-014-0251-3

[Deleted]

MysteryMeat's skull reconstruction, credit goes to him.

[gigadino96]

Nov 27, 2014 5:34:51 GMT 5 @felidae said:

MysteryMeat's skull reconstruction, credit goes to him.

He actually updated this recostruction, if I'm not wrong, but I cannot find the updated one.

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2014 21:45:22 GMT 5 gigadino96 said:

Nov 27, 2014 5:34:51 GMT 5 @felidae said:

MysteryMeat's skull reconstruction, credit goes to him.

He actually updated this recostruction, if I'm not wrong, but I cannot find the updated one.

Ah, thanks for letting me know. I guess he would have posted it on CF, so I'll try to find it.

[spinodontosaurus]

It's here.

[Cross]

Before I begin my own theses and such, I will start off my contribution to this thread by quoting paragraphs from the original paper that give some clues to the animal's size affinities, as the web is mislead by the misquoted 10.3m 3.3 ton figure.

First, from the original paper (Coria and Currie 2006):

"ABSTRACT
A new carcharodontosaurid theropod from the Huincul Formation (Aptian-
Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) of Neuquén Province, Argentina, is described.
Approximately the same size as
Giganotosaurus
carolinii
Coria & Salgado, 1995,
Mapusaurus
roseae
n. gen., n. sp." --

This is already counterindicative of an animal only 10m at maximum length, more likely 12.4 meters or 12.5 meters depending on which estimate is taken for MUCPv-ch1 (Hartman 2013, Coria and Salgado 1998).
Coria and Bell (2013) gave a very conservative 11 meters during their paleopathological analysis.


Other than the two popular specimens used to represent the larger individuals(MCF.PVPH-108.145 [the big pubis], and MCF.PVPH 108.202 [the big fibula]), there are also multiple isolated elements of rather large size as well. For example, MCF.PVPH 108.82, an 11th or 13th presacral cervicodorsal that measures 31cm across the diapophyses in pages 88-89 and fig. 14 of Coria and Currie (2006).
(

[theropod]

www.academia.edu/9863752/Cranial_ontogenetic_variation_in_Mapusaurus_roseae_Dinosauria_Theropoda_and_the_probable_role_of_heterochrony_in_carcharodontosaurid_evolution

[Cross]

Just in case anyone has trouble opening the academia.edu link, here's the same paper for free on Researchgate.net :
www.researchgate.net/publication/276266912_Cranial_ontogenetic_variation_in_Mapusaurus_roseae_(Dinosauria_Theropoda)_and_the_probable_role_of_heterochrony_in_carcharodontosaurid_evolution

[dinosauria101]

Here's franoys' restoration (it will not show as an image):  pre00.deviantart.net/d428/th/pre/i/2019/017/a/3/mapusaurus_roseae_skeletal_diagram__by_franoys-db08xf8.png

[dinosauria101]

Oh, and here's a nice deviantArt piece that helps to clarify the true size of Mapusaurus:

(should be 13.6 when straight)
Link:
www.deviantart.com/namdaotetanurae/art/Mapusaurus-roseae-499382857

Seems like this animal would have been equal to, or even bigger than, the infamous T rex specimen Sue!

[Infinity Blade]

The original description paper (already mentioned in one of the posts above) says something very interesting about the manus.

Manual phalanx II-2 is represented by MCF- PVPH-108.109, which is 80 mm long (shortest length between lateral margins of the proximal and distal articulations). The proximal end has a tall, ginglymoid articulation with near perpendicular lateral and medial margins. There are strong attachment areas for ligaments on the medial and especially lateral surfaces near the proximal end. The colateral ligament pits are high in position, close to the extensor surface, and the lateral one is much larger than the medial. The double distal articulation is narrower dorsally (21 mm) than ventrally (37.5 mm), and is oriented more ventrally than distally. The transverse plane of the distal articulation is rotated some 10° medially when compared with the transverse plane of the proximal articulation. Effectively this turned the tip of the ungual medially in apposition to the claw of the first digit.

This is similar to what we see in Acrocanthosaurus (whose 1st and 2nd digits converged during flexion), and it appears the digits of Mapusaurus were also oriented to allow for grasping.