Western Carnosaur

Disclaimer: The Western Carnosaur is a fictional animal from Keenan Taylor's Tales of Kaimere.

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Earth Ancestor: Megaraptora sp.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Dinosauria

Order: Megaraptora

Family: Styraconychidae

Genus: Styraconychus

Species: S. cyanoproposus

### Description

  *Styranocychus*, the western or blue-masked carnosaur, is the top predator of the forest and its surrounding desert. These megaraptorans aren’t common, but measuring up to thirty feet long and weighing around two tons, they are the undisputed kings of the realm. Like other megaraptorans, they grab prey using their jaws and kill it with stabs of their claws. When killing prey small enough to carry, they will usually simply grab and stab, letting the struggling, impaled prey kill itself with the very efforts it uses to escape only dealing further organ damage. Thick, elastic skin on their chest and neck allows them to ignore any retaliating strikes from prey in their arms, and since their arms are much closer to their center of balance and are very strong, they can carry a substantial load without being encumbered and still able to keep vigilant and even fight if they must.

   They are also surprisingly lightweight for their size: their bones are quite hollow, yet structured with internal struts for reinforcement, and there are ample airsacs in their chests. They are very muscular animals, but their light build helps reduce caloric demands and makes them much more efficient travelers than a mammal or hadrosaur in the same weight class. Their vision is excellent, both diurnal and nocturnal. Their sense of smell isn’t particularly well developed, so they cannot track prey over long distances by scent and they do not have ears nearly as keen as the robust monarchs, but their vision and height allows them to see very far, and seeing well into the ultraviolet spectrum not only helps them spot prey, they can also clearly see blood trails to follow anything that might escape their grasp.

   Dominant individuals with established territories are the only ones that usually remain in the coastal forests year-round. Game is much more scarce, but beachcombing or even island hopping can supplement as long as they avoid the largest crocodiles. The challenges they face are also faced by their prey, so there are often scavenging opportunities. Subordinates and subadults must often venture out into the desert and follow camels to survive.

   The Great Library recorded that they were a venomous species, as they often bite and claw then retreat from hugoldun and can reliably come back later to a dead animal. Closer observation and dissection by the Assembly proved this to be false, and their saliva and teeth are instead packed with bacteria which seems to be particularly harmful to mammals. A rose by any other name perhaps, but they don’t possess a true venom.

   Another misconception regards their cladistics: early on, all large theropods were classified as carnosaurs. While it is now known that both clades of megaraptoran, the giant dromies and abelisaurids of Kairul, and the large theropod of the Jurassic Island do not form a natural grouping, and none are actually carnosaurs. Even so, carnosaur remains the common name used by the Assembly when speaking on these large predators.

### Phylogeny

The Western Carnosaur is a megaraptoran dinosaur in one of the more basal clades of megaraptoran known as Styraconychidae, with closest relations to the Darun of the Known World which it shares the genus Styraconychus with.

### Ontogeny

For the first few months of their lives Western Carnosaurs might offer passive protection for a couple years and let their young hunt in their territory, but at the first sign of being competition they are chased off. They reach adulthood much faster than robust monarchs (they take around 5 years, monarchs take 15-20) so there's a much shorter window when they aren't competitive