Giant theropods overview thread

[creature386]

Nov 8, 2014 6:20:09 GMT 5 Fragillimus335 said:

I get about 12.4 meters scaling from various elements, which fits Theropod's estimates well. Looks like another theropod that might be longer than Tyrannosaurus.

12.4 m would actually perfectly fit in the range of numbers for Sue's length given by various sources (12.3 to 12.5 m).

[Dakotaraptor]

Unless he meant average Tyrannosaurus, however then he should include ZPAL MgD-I/6 (holotype of Deinocheirus).

[theropod]

The large new specimen is 6% longer than the holotype. Given that the former is 12.4m long, the holotype would be shy of 11.7m and the average of the two about 12m. Again, that’s just given that this lenght figure is correct, which I sincerely doubt we can assume, as all the individual elements seem to give such different results that they aren’t very meaningful.
But yes, that seems longer than the average adult T. rex.

[coherentsheaf]

Has anyoe done a gdi yet?

[theropod]

Nope, no dorsal view available.
I don't think it makes sense to do a gdi that you later can't have confidence in because you just guessed the body width.

[Grey]

Simone Maganuco told me the new paper about Spino will come somewhere in the next two years, depending of several factors.

However, he confirmed the reported body mass.

I can say that the body mass estimate for the reconstructed adult Spinosaurus is between 6 and 7 tons. It was written and discussed in the first version of the manuscript, but not included in the very trimmed final version. It will be included in the next more detailed papers.


The old reconstruction was less accurate. We did not know the new skeleton and its proportions at that time (2005), so we were forced to include in our reconstruction many elements from Suchomimus and Baryonyx just to have an idea of the size of Spinosaurus. In the 2005 reconstruction the body was slightly bigger respect to the head, and the legs - above all the thighs - were way bigger than now. I hope we will have more material for the next reconstruction, but I think that the size and proportions will not change too much. The important thing is that the adults of Spinosaurus attained a considerable size, but they were not heavier than tyrannosaurs and large charcarodontosaurids (based on my observations on the specimens I would say that the largest specimens of Tyrannosaurus was heavier than our reconstruction of the adult Spinosaurus).


By tons he means metric tons.

[creature386]

This explains a lot. Now we know why there was a model without mass estimate and where the 6 t everyone likes to write come from.

[gigadino96]

Some estimates for Tyrannotitan.

MPEF PV 1156 has got a 140 cm long femur[1]. Pretty big indeed, but how big the animal was? Let's see:

We'll use MUPCv-ch1 as comparison. The femur length of this specimen was reported at 143 cm long[2], 137 cm long[3] and 132 cm long[4]. The whole animal likely measured 12.4 m long[2].

Let's use 143 cm estimate first:

(12.4/1.43)*1.40=12.1 m

12.1 m is close to the size that many sources claimed. However, this thigh bone measurement seems to be wrong. More updated sources claimed that MUPCv-ch1's femur was shorter than that.

Carrano et. al measured MUPCv-ch1's femur at 137 cm long[3]:

(12.4/1.37)*1.40=12.7 m

12.7 m is an impressive length. That's slightly longer than what I estimated for SMG-Din 1, the Carcharodontosaurus neotype (12.6 m), even though the latter is often claimed to be larger.

But…there is even a lower figure: Benson et. al, in fact, claimed that MUPCv-ch1's femur was 132 cm long[4]. Now let's try:

(12.4/1.32)*1.40=13.1 m

13.1 m? This would mean that the largest Tyrannotitan was around as long as the largest Giganotosaurus, MUPCv-95, which is claimed to be 13.2 m long[2].

Let's see the average:

12.2+12.8+13.2=38.2/3=12.7

So, the largest Tyrannotitan specimen likely fell close to 12-13 m, like the other giant Carcharodontosaurids.

___________________________________

References:
[1]. archosaur.us/theropoddatabase/Carnosauria.htm#Tyrannotitanchubutensis
[2]. www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/?month=june-2013&view=calendar
[3]. imageshack.us/scaled/landing/819/bild51.png
[4]. www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001853

[theropod]

MPEF-PV 1157’s femur is actually 141cm long according to Canale et al. 2015.
It seems it’s definitely bigger than I’d have said a year ago.

Reference: Canale, Juan I.; Novas, Fernando E.; Pol, Diego: Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannotitan chubutensis Novas, de Valais, Vickers-Rich and Rich, 2005 (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, Vol. 27 (2015); 1; pp. 1-32 + Supplementary material.

[gigadino96]

Nov 26, 2014 19:19:40 GMT 5 theropod said:

MPEF-PV 1157’s femur is actually 141cm long according to Canale et al. 2015.
It seems it’s definitely bigger than I’d have said a year ago.

Reference: Canale, Juan I.; Novas, Fernando E.; Pol, Diego: Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannotitan chubutensis Novas, de Valais, Vickers-Rich and Rich, 2005 (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, Vol. 27 (2015); 1; pp. 1-32 + Supplementary material.

Well, a such tight bone estimate would yield a slightly higher length figure, 12.2 m long, 12.8 m long and 13.2 m long for 143, 137 and 132 cm respectively.

[Infinity Blade]

I guess this can count as relevant, so does anyone have an idea of how massive Allosaurus specimen Big Al 2 was?

[theropod]

Ayer (1999) and the SMA both list it as 7.6m long, so presumably about 1.6t.

[Grey]

Spinosaurus tooth from a private collection. Check the diameter.

[theropod]

Dec 31, 2014 4:27:27 GMT 5 Grey said:

Spinosaurus tooth from a private collection. Check the diameter.

That's further confirmation for what's indicated by the tooth in MNSM V4047: [/i]Spinosaurus does have the largest known theropod teeth.

[Grey]

The widest but the longest ?