Bahariasaurus

Credit: CIsiopurple on DeviantArt.

*Bahariasaurus* is an extinct genus of large and highly enigmatic theropod dinosaur that lived Africa during the Late Cretaceous.

## History

The only fossils confidently assigned *Bahariasaurus* were found in the 1910s in the Bahariya oasis in by Ernst Stromer. Unfortunately, these materials were destroyed during a World War II bombing. This same raid took the holotypes of *Spinosaurus*, *Aegyptosaurus* and other Bahariya fauna. More fossils were tentatively assigned from the Farak Formation. A 2020 study lumps *Bahariasaurus* into *Deltadromeus* as a nomen dubium, but some, including Mickey Mortimer, believe otherwise. Lapparent (1960) referred three vertebrae from Niger to *B. ingens*, but they likely have titanosaurian affinities (possibly conspecific).

## Classification

Ernst Stromer (1931) proposed that *Bahariasaurus* and *Carcharodontosaurus* were closely related, and thus erected carcharodontosauridae to house them. Paul (1988) placed *Bahariasaurus* as an allosaurine allosaurid based on "classic" allosaur traits, where he cites narrow tyrannosaur-like pubes, a tyrannosaur-like fibular shank and an allosaur-like femur. Paul also states that *Bahariasaurus* was once considered an allosaur and has the most tyrannosaur-like gait of (what he defines as) Allosaurinae.

## Paleobiology

*Bahariasaurus* is one of the largest known theropods, being 11-12 metres long and 4 tonnes heavy.

*Bahariasaurus* is contemporaneous with *Carcharodontosaurus*, *Spinosaurus*, *Sigilmassasaurus* and an unnamed large Abelisaurid. This unique ecosystem occured within North Africa is often described as "the most dangerous place on Earth". It also lived with crocodylimorphs, *Rugops* and *Deltadromeus*.

## Notable Specimens

* BSP 1922 X 47: Assigned syntype, this specimen consists of dorsal vertebrae, a rib fragment, a sacral fragment, conjoined pubes and a proximal ischium from Gebel Ghorâbi.
* BSP 1922 X 48: A cervical and two dorsals, assigned syntype.
* BSP 1922 X 48B: Pubes assigned to the syntype.
* BSP 1911 XII 23: A referred proximal ischium.
* BSP 1912 VIII 62: a possible D1 neural arch, partial dorsal centrum, a dorsal, a dorsal centrum, a caudal, an ilium and a proximal pubis, all referred.
* BSP 1912 VIII 74: A referred proximal ischium.
* BSP 1912 VIII 83: A referred caudal.
* BSP 1912 VIII 60: A skull fragment, scapula, coracoid, vertebral centrum and caudal tentatively referred.
* BSP 1912 VIII 69: A tentatively referred femur.
* BSP 1911 XII 32: A tentatively referred femur.
* BSP 1912 VIII 70: A tentatively referred fibula.
* BSP 1912 VIII 77: Tentatively referred partial scapula and fragmented coracoid.
* BSP 1912 VIII 92: 3 large, partial chevrons, later referred to *Bahariasaurus* by Stromer (1936)[*citation needed*].
* Vb-607, Vb-717 and Vb-870: Bahariasaurus-like anterior and mid-caudals labelled carcharodontosauridae indet. from the Wadi Milk Formation, on the assumption that Bahariasaurus is an allosauroid. Weishampel (2004) note *Bahariasaurus* sp. from this formation, which may be in reference to these caudals. However, these caudals are likely of Campanian age, so their referral is questionable.

## References

1. ↑ https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon\_no=38575
2. ↑ https://www.mindat.org/taxon-4823347.html
3. ↑ https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=OsJQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=Bahariasaurus&source=bl&ots=Z9WT7RCoH1&sig=ACfU3U1aSOeBvHXilIoAn4-Qoj495YhtGg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ7tKH-JX0AhUEhP0HHRbJD3IQ6AF6BAg3EAM#v=onepage&q=Bahariasaurus&f=false
4. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7188693/
5. ↑ https://www.theropoddatabase.com/Megalosauroidea.htm#Bahariasaurusingens
6. ↑ https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-bahariasaurus-ingens
7. ↑ de Lapparent A. F. (1960) "The dinosaurs of the “Continental Intercalaire” of the central Sahara". *Memoirs of the Geological Society of France* **39**: 1-60.
8. ↑ Naish, Darren. *Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore*. Princeton University Press, 2021.
9. ↑ Paul, G. S., 1988, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, a complete Illustrated guide: New York Academy of sciences book
10. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/princeton-field-guide-to-dinosaurs/oclc/985402380
11. ↑ https://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/dinoappendix/DinoappendixSummer2008.pdf
12. ↑ https://medium.com/predict/scientists-reveal-the-most-dangerous-place-in-earths-history-562b88cb6681
13. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/us/most-dangerous-place-earth-history-trnd-scn/index.html
14. ↑ https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/most-dangerous-place-in-earths-history-revealed-333955
15. ↑ https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/palaeontologists-reveal-the-most-dangerous-place-in-the-history-of-planet-earth
16. ↑ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a32394328/most-dangerous-place-on-earth/
17. ↑ 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 Stromer, E. (1934). "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman)." 13. Dinosauria. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung n.f., 22: 1–79.
18. ↑ https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicCollectionSearch?collection\_no=51747&is\_real\_user=1
19. ↑ Stromer (1936)
20. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019566711830394X
21. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=p\_66%3A0520242092&field-isbn=0520242092
22. ↑ Agyemang et al. (2019)