Bahariasaurus

*Bahariasaurus ingens*

***Bahariasaurus*** (meaning "Bahariya lizard") was originally thought to be a very large carnivorous dinosaur. It is probably synonymous with *Deltadromeus*, another predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Africa. It was a huge theropod, in the same size range as *Tyrannosaurus* and the contemporary genera *Carcharodontosaurus* and *Spinosaurus*.

The type species, *B. ingens*, was described by Ernst Stromer in 1934, though the type specimen was destroyed during World War II. The exact placement of *Bahariasaurus* is uncertain. It has been variously assigned to several theropod groups, including Carcharodontosauridae (by Rauhut in 1995) and Tyrannosauroidea (by Chure in 2000). More specimens would be needed to more accurately classify it, and to determine its relationship to *Deltadromeus*.

## 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).

## Description

*Bahariasaurus* was quite a large theropod. The type species, B. ingens, is only known from post-cranial material.

### Size

*Bahariasaurus* is currently estimated at 11 to 12 meters (36 to 39 feet long), 3.3 meters tall (10 feet tall), and anywhere from 3 to 4.5 tonnes (3.9 to 5.4 tons). Approaching and/or surpassing the maximum size for most giant theropods such as *Tyrannosaurus* and *Saurophaganax*.

## 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.

## Phylogeny

Due to its extremely fragmentary nature*, Bahariasaurus* has been placed in several clades of Theropoda. Rauhut (1995) placed it in Carcharodontosauridae, and Chure (2000) placed it in Tyrannosauroidea. The description of *Aoniraptor* in 2016 placed *Bahariasaurus* and *Deltadromeus* in Megaraptora.

## 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)Template:Cite.
* 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.

## JPInstitute.com Description

Very little is known about Bahariasaurus as only a small number of hipbones have been found. Even those were lost, however, when Allied bombs destroyed the German museum where the bones were housed during WWII. Bahariasaurus was probably a large meat-eater, almost as big as T. rex. It might have looked like Carcharodontosaurus, which lived in the same area of North Africa.

A number of these bones were found by German paleontologists shortly before WWI. In the early 1930's they were named Bahariasaurus and identified as coming from a huge carnivore. WWI ended the original search for the specimen and WWII destroyed what had been found. Some scientists have suggested that Bahariasaurus may have been part of the Tyrannosauridae family.

## Links

https://web.archive.org/web/20040214162945/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_bahar.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20080615215338/http://kids.yahoo.com/dinosaurs/7--Bahariasaurus

## References

1. ↑ Mortimer, M. (2007). "Ceratosauria" The Theropod Database.
2. ↑ Template:Cite journal
3. ↑ 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.
4. ↑ Rauhut, (1995). "Zur systematischen Stellung der afrikanischen Theropoden *Carcharodontosaurus* Stromer 1931 und *Bahariasaurus* Stromer 1934." *Berliner geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen*, E16 (Gundolf-Ernst-Festschrift): 357-375.
5. ↑ Chure, (2000). "A new species of *Allosaurus* from the Morrison Formation of Dinosaur National Monument (Utah-Colorado) and a revision of the theropod family Allosauridae." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1-964.
6. ↑ 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
7. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7188693/
8. ↑ https://www.theropoddatabase.com/Megalosauroidea.htm#Bahariasaurusingens
9. ↑ https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-bahariasaurus-ingens
10. ↑ 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.
11. ↑ Naish, Darren. *Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore*. Princeton University Press, 2021.
12. ↑ Paul, G. S., 1988, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, a complete Illustrated guide: New York Academy of sciences book
13. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/princeton-field-guide-to-dinosaurs/oclc/985402380
14. ↑ https://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/dinoappendix/DinoappendixSummer2008.pdf
15. ↑ https://medium.com/predict/scientists-reveal-the-most-dangerous-place-in-earths-history-562b88cb6681
16. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/us/most-dangerous-place-earth-history-trnd-scn/index.html
17. ↑ https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/most-dangerous-place-in-earths-history-revealed-333955
18. ↑ https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/palaeontologists-reveal-the-most-dangerous-place-in-the-history-of-planet-earth
19. ↑ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a32394328/most-dangerous-place-on-earth/
20. ↑ 20.00 20.01 20.02 20.03 20.04 20.05 20.06 20.07 20.08 20.09 20.10 20.11 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.
21. ↑ https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicCollectionSearch?collection\_no=51747&is\_real\_user=1
22. ↑ Stromer (1936)
23. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019566711830394X
24. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=p\_66%3A0520242092&field-isbn=0520242092
25. ↑ Agyemang et al. (2019)